Re: 64 - is this the only number that is both a sq and a cube?
From: Mensanator (mensanator_at_aol.compost)
Date: 09/21/04
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Date: 21 Sep 2004 01:39:49 GMT
>Subject: Re: 64 - is this the only number that is both a sq and a cube?
>From: Stan Brown the_stan_brown@fastmail.fm
>Date: 9/20/2004 7:06 PM Central Standard Time
>Message-id: <MPG.1bb93a96654b4c9e98c9e5@news.odyssey.net>
>
>"Bob Silverman" <anonymous@mathforum.org> wrote in sci.math:
>>Does "complete layman" = "complete moron"??? [no flame intended
>>toward original poster]
>>
>>The question asked is a simple one that should be able to be
>>answered by anyone who has taken/passed a year of algebra. The last
>>time I looked, the minimum requirement for graduating high school in the
>U.S. [any high school] was two years of math...
>>
>>Answering this question only requires simple arithmetic. If a high
>>school graduate can not answer it, it speaks very poorly of the
>>high school math teachers......
>
>I teach math at Tompkins Cortland Community College.
>
>Last night I tutored a student -- a bright, motivated student -- in
>his precalculus homework. He had to multiply out (x-3)^2 (x+2)^3.
>All he knew was to multiply (x-3)(x-3)(x+2)(x+2)(x+2); the cube and
>even the square of a binomial were unknown to him.
>
>He's the norm, not the exception. Hardly any of the students I see,
>even the better ones, know (x+y)^2 = x^2+2xy+y^2 without multiplying
>out the factors by "FOIL". These are all students who have been
>through two years of high-school algebra, or more.
You think memorizing (x+y)^2 = x^2+2xy+y^2 is more important than
knowing FOIL? Isn't it better to know an algorithm than a fact?
Because I was never good at memorizing things, the only thing I
memorized about trigonometry was sin(0)=0 from which I would derive
the needed trig identity. As a result, I got straight A's in math while
failing Spanish.
Just be thankful that they know FOIL.
>
>I don't think it's fair to blame the HS math teachers, though. I
>believe the basic problem is that students don't get enough
>homework. The only way I know to learn math (through calculus,
>anyway) is like the old joke about Carnegie Hall: practice,
>practice, practice. Teachers aren't allowed to assign enough
>homework, and when they do the students don't do it and principals
>back down under parental pressure.
>
>--
>Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
> http://OakRoadSystems.com
>A: Maybe because some people are too annoyed by top-posting.
>Q: Why do I not get an answer to my question(s)?
>A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read
>text.
>Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
-- Mensanator Ace of Clubs
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- In reply to: Stan Brown: "Re: 64 - is this the only number that is both a sq and a cube?"
- Next in thread: Daniel Grubb: "Re: 64 - is this the only number that is both a sq and a cube?"
- Reply: Daniel Grubb: "Re: 64 - is this the only number that is both a sq and a cube?"
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- Reply: Stan Brown: "Re: 64 - is this the only number that is both a sq and a cube?"
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