Be sure to watch the video linked at the end.

https://www.technologyreview.c...source=pocket-newtab

(you're welcome)

Those wacky Babylonians....

Clever. Thanks for posting that.

Thank you. Will be sleeping better.

Nice!

This will make my life so much easier!

Thanks for posting that. I'd read that a new way of solving quadratic equations had been devised, but that news item didn't have details or the link to the video.

Anything that makes math less intimidating for students should be good.

This brings up an anecdote relating to math education that is symptomatic of some problems in education:

When one of my daughters was studying algebra in middle school, she asked for help with a homework problem one evening. I showed her how she could solve the problem and she took her homework off to school the next day. When she brought her paper home again, she complained that the teacher had marked her solution wrong, even though the answer was correct.

I and my wife went to the school to find out what was going on. The teacher said the solution was wrong because it was derived by a method other than the one she was teaching. I argued that there was more than one way to solve the problem and any correct method should be accepted. The teacher was adamant that her method was the only one the students could use. I became so angry arguing over this that I had to get up and leave my wife alone with the teacher. I still resent that teacher's attitude.

Big Al

Exactly, Big Al. I had a similar experience with my son's science/math teacher (combined). She insisted that the students learn her methods, and insisted that statistics could "prove" your hypothesis.

She would also not give credit when the answer was correct if you didn't show your work--no matter how inane the calculation was. One one exam instead of putting "show your work," she asked the question "how did you get your answer." One of my son's friends put down "I used my brain." Zero credit.

It helps to realize the teacher is teaching a method. The question was a test of whether the kid had learned the method. Once the kids know the 2,3,4 different methods taught, they are generally free to choose whichever one they like to solve problems as they move thru math where today's method for its own sake is tomorrow's tool.

*bump* for MA

Thank you for the bump.

This is really interesting. I like the "many roads lead to the same answer" approach to math that this illustrates. In fact, if an answer can only be reached by a single approach, I'd be inclined to question that answer.

Nina and Big Al, I feel you. Some of my most frustrating moments during my kids' elementary school days came during the get-the-teacher-to-approve-your-kid's-science-fair-project process. Once, we had to help a kid with three proposals before it got approved. I wanted so bad to stalk in there and say, "We've got five degrees in science at our house. What are your qualifications ?" but it was her classroom and she was allowed to make the rules, so I swallowed all that indignation.

However, I'm generally with piqaboo on the issue of showing your work and using the teacher's method to do math problems. (Within reason. Sometimes the teacher's method is just wrong.) If the curriculum is sound, there is a reason to learn to apply a given method, even when it seems unnecessary to take so many steps to find a solution that is obvious to a talented student. That method will be useful later on problems that are not obvious.

I'm also in favor of showing your work, even when the steps you want to skip seem obvious. Even strong students make mistakes, and the teacher can point them out when grading if all the steps are shown. This is a teaching opportunity that's missed if the student just jots down the answer.

It's also good practice for the way our graduate engineering classes were taught. The testing period wasn't long enough to fully work out problems, so we were instructed to show the steps we would have taken to solve it if we'd had time.

And I say all of this as the person who was always (always!) the one who used an entirely different approach to get to my answers. Maybe it was a right/left brain thing. I just saw the problems differently than my peers, then I took my own meandering, leisurely path to the solution.