Promoting Arithmetic and Algebra By Example 158
Capt.Albatross writes "A couple of months ago, the New York Times published political scientist Andrew Hacker's opinion that teaching algebra is harmful. Today, it has followed up with an article that is clearly intended to indicate the usefulness of basic mathematics by suggesting useful exercises in a variety of 'real-world' topics. While the starter questions in each topic involve formula evaluation rather than symbolic manipulation, the follow-up questions invite readers to delve more deeply.
The value of mathematics education has been a (recurring issue on Slashdot)."
Re:an example where algebra is useful? (Score:4, Informative)
Figuring out how much money a better-MPG car will save you.
Start by using GPM as a metric.
You'd think engineers'd know that 1/x is a curve, but nooooo...
Still it's not as bad as measuring rainfall in liters per square meter like we do here in Spain.
Bottom line: Getting the basic math right would mean the public wouldn't have to. Or at least, not so much.
Re:an example where algebra is useful? (Score:4, Informative)
I'm wondering, what exactly is the problem with that unit? Which alternative would you prefer?
Because if it's mm that you prefer, you're maybe interested to know that liter per square meter is exactly the same as mm:
liter / m^2 = dm^3 / m^2 = (10^-1 m)^3 / m^2 = 10^-3 m^3 / m^2 = 10^-3 m = mm