Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> (Seriously - why the hell does anybody in the modern era need to be 
> fluent at long division? Sure, you should know how it works. But being 
> able to finish 50 problems in an hour? That just seems pointless. Get a 
> computer!)

  Btw, some schools and school books in the US are taking the other extreme:
They are dumbing down basic math to the point where nobody learns anything
useful.

  For example, they don't teach the classical way of summing or multiplying
two numbers on paper anymore *at all*. It's like it's completely censored.

  Instead, they give a few heuristics on how to deduce the result of a few
easy cases, and for the rest the rule is basically "if you can't deduce it,
use a calculator".

  No matter how much the current world wants to deny it, there still are
situations where eg. summing or multiplying two large numbers on paper is
necessary. You might be in a situation where you simply don't have access
to a calculator or a computer, and you *really* need to know how much
you have to pay for a certain amount of something, for example.

  Those heuristics are supposed to make calculations "easier", but in
many cases a simple classical mechanical paper&pen algorithm is easier
and more practical.

  What I don't understand is why they have to censor the classical way.
I would understand if they taught *both* methods.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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