Re: People are stupid

In article <080720050754226340%edgar@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
G. A. Edgar <edgar@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>In article <1120775092.622075.53160@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
>RichD <r_delaney2001@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>> In my neighborhood, there are regular street
>> sweepings, twice a month. They used to put up
>> notices 5 days ahead: "Street sweeping next Monday,
>> 8 - 9 AM, no parking"
>> No problemo.

>> Then the city figured it would be cheaper to post
>> permanent notices, instead of temporary ones.
>> "Street sweeping, this block, 1st and 3rd Monday,
>> 8 - 9 AM, no parking" (or 2nd and 4th Monday)

>> Simple, right? No, mucho problems! Cars were in
>> violation, and getting cited, city hall got a bunch
>> of complaints, now they've gone back to the temp notices!

>> What happened? I figure the arithemetic confounded
>> the proles' mental agility. "Uh, let's see now,
>> today is the 17th..."

>> For me, this is the last straw. I hate to be elitist,
>> but I think Aldous Huxley had it right - the masses
>> cannot be trusted, should be treated as imbeciles
>> and children, denied the vote, and ruled by their
>> betters.


>There is a story I heard, how true I don't know...

>The Mathematical Association of America publishes some books. In their
>catalog, they used to provide the list prices, then note that there is
>a ten percent discount for members of the Association. But so many
>members computed the discount incorrectly that they changed their
>practice: now they print both the list price and the member price.

Who says mathematicians need to know how to do arithmetic?

In fact, how many first-class mathematicians do we lose by
teaching arithmetic manipulations without any understanding?
Or even using arithmetic facility and speed as a criterion,
which is now the case.

In fact, the emphasis on computing throughout the educational
process seems to be producing students who can no longer
achieve any understanding of mathematical concepts.
--
This address is for information only. I do not claim that these views
are those of the Statistics Department or of Purdue University.
Herman Rubin, Department of Statistics, Purdue University
hrubin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Phone: (765)494-6054 FAX: (765)494-0558
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Cantor Confusion
    ... have different members at different times or anything like that. ... mathematicians could adhere to that point of view. ... Because no one who works with Z set theory claimed that for any ... That in Z set theories there is no set S that has the property that all ...
    (sci.math)
  • Re: Axiom of Pairing
    ... MoeBlee wrote: ... is called a herd. ... The properties of the members of the group of ten ... the same definitions that mathematicians started out ...
    (sci.logic)
  • Re: Video Words
    ... sets from being members of sets, or from being members of themselves, or ... For mathematicians, this is a very useful notion. ... criterion -- but you always have to start by specifying the larger set. ... A pessimist sees the glass as half empty. ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: Axiom of Pairing
    ... John Jones wrote: ... is called a herd. ... The properties of the members of the group of ten ... the same definitions that mathematicians started out ...
    (sci.logic)