Why Study Algebra?

[LADoug1]

I think studying subjects like algebra teach us how to think and reason in our daily lives. I’m glad I took as much math as possible.

[down_to_business]

I studied algebra in HS , because I had to. In college, that was necessary to get though calculus (unfortunately, required).

 

However, if Pietro Boselli was my teacher, I may have majored in math!

[+ E.T.Bass]

I created a training module for my Org that included a slide on Descartes and his contribution to western philosophy and mathematics, including algebra. I took algebra, trig, calc, differential equations and so on to become an engineer. I can understand why many don't see a need for that education track. For many folks, an education doesn't seem to help at all, yet society encourages to at least give it a try.

 

 

[marylander1940]

But I like, enjoy Shakespeare and Homer and Virgil and Ovid and Lucan and Dante and Tasso.

 

Some don’t like them yet the study them instead of just using google to find out about them

[+ Avalon]

I had a friend who went to UC Berkeley. He said there was another student there who was quite a bit older who came from a wealthy family and he was a perpetual student. This was back in the 60s so I'm not sure if this would be allowed today.

[+ Avalon]

Some don’t like them yet the study them instead of just using google to find out about them

 

When I took Shakespeare in college there was no Google.

[+ E.T.Bass]

When I took Shakespeare in college there was no Google.

I took Shakespeare in high school. I went to an inner city public school and was fortunate to have a teacher that offered advanced English Lit.

Studied

Hamlet

Macbeth

Merchant of Venice

Romeo and Juliet

I'm still glad I did. I love Shakespeare to this day.

[+ Avalon]

I took Shakespeare in high school. I went to an inner city public school and was fortunate to have a teacher that offered advanced English Lit.

Studied

Hamlet

Macbeth

Merchant of Venice

Romeo and Juliet

I'm still glad I did. I love Shakespeare to this day.

 

I took English all four years in high school and we studied Shakespeare also. I can't remember what plays now. But we also had his Sonnets. In fact we had to write a sonnet. I wrote mine to my wirehair dachshund Erica ;-)))

[Rudynate]

I had a friend who went to UC Berkeley. He said there was another student there who was quite a bit older who came from a wealthy family and he was a perpetual student. This was back in the 60s so I'm not sure if this would be allowed today.

 

 

Why wouldn't it be? A student who pays full tuition without needing financial aid? Golden.

[gallahadesquire]

Rationalizing the denominator makes it look prettier.

 

As algebra is taught now, it's not good for much. As someone who has done quite a bit of math, and someone who takes great joy in it, I find the high school grind through the curriculum in the United States to be a total disgrace. The current high school algebra track was designed prior to the advent of computers with the goal of churning out engineers and economists. Despite computers having changed these fields significantly, high school math has remained the same. As an example, teachers are still told that their students must "rationalize the denominator" and that not doing so is a great sin. This trick dates back to the time before calculators when students relied on root tables in the back of textbooks to compute square roots. It would be a lot easier to find sqrt(2)/2 than 1/sqrt(2) using root tables, but rationalizing denominators remains a relic in the curriculum to this day despite the ubiquity of calculators. There's a lot of "it teaches you to problem solve and think logically" nonsense out there. We've got a long way to go in restructuring the curriculum before we are actually walking the walk.

[gallahadesquire]

I learned basic chemistry. I learned PSSC Physics (it was a course in the '60's) that didn't use calculus, but used changes a lot.

 

THen I re-took the physics, learning the calculus as it was needed. And we went into stoichiometrics and reaction rates in chemistry. And got taught the calculus as we went along. This was in High School, about which a ten-episode documentary is going to be shown in April on STARZ, America to Me. Dear Old Oak Park.

 

In college, I used calculus for four years. It's a very useful adjunct to arithmetic and algebra.

 

DEFINITELY useful in medicine.

[+ Avalon]

Why wouldn't it be? A student who pays full tuition without needing financial aid? Golden.

 

I understand some schools have set a limit on the time it takes to get a degree.

[Kevin Slater]

I understand some schools have set a limit on the time it takes to get a degree.

 

I always assumed that was universal.

 

Kevin Slater

[+ Avalon]

The tv show "Community" lasted six years. During that time a person could have gotten a Master's degree.

 

I went to high school with a boy who got his Master's in five years.

[Rudynate]

I always assumed that was universal.

 

Kevin Slater

 

I think that's the case for matriculated students. I've never heard of a college or university who wouldn't allow someone to take courses out of personal interest. They might want to give priority to matriculated students.

[Rudynate]

I learned basic chemistry. I learned PSSC Physics (it was a course in the '60's) that didn't use calculus, but used changes a lot.

 

THen I re-took the physics, learning the calculus as it was needed. And we went into stoichiometrics and reaction rates in chemistry. And got taught the calculus as we went along. This was in High School, about which a ten-episode documentary is going to be shown in April on STARZ, America to Me. Dear Old Oak Park.

 

In college, I used calculus for four years. It's a very useful adjunct to arithmetic and algebra.

 

DEFINITELY useful in medicine.

 

 

 

PSSC- That sounds familiar. Our 9th grade science class was "Introduction to Physical Science" and it was designed by PSSC. They made a big deal of the fact that it was a brand new way to teach kids science. I did enjoy it, but I thought it was mostly the teacher.

[+ purplekow]

Using Alegrebra it came to

 

 

5 Cows for 50 Bucks (by the way no self respecting cow would be sold for 10 dollars)

1 Pig for $3

 

Total 6 Animals $53

Leaving 94 Chickens $47

 

100 Animals 100 Dollars

[samhexum]

Geometry:

[+ Avalon]

PSSC- That sounds familiar. Our 9th grade science class was "Introduction to Physical Science" and it was designed by PSSC. They made a big deal of the fact that it was a brand new way to teach kids science. I did enjoy it, but I thought it was mostly the teacher.

 

Sounds familiar. I think I had that my Freshman year in high school and then the following year was biology. And that finished by high school science.

[+ quoththeraven]

I've actually used algebra at work. Understanding algebraic concepts also helped me understand what actuaries said and other consequences of the time value of money, such as that a decrease in the yield on debt instruments leads to an increase in price for existing bonds and vice versa.