Re: Abolish Fractions?



quasi <quasi@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
amzoti <amzoti@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Thoughts?
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/mathscience/2008-01-23-fractions_N.htm

He's a kook.
Without a solid understanding of ordinary fractions, a student
has little chance of understanding algebraic fractions.
Thus, "down with fractions" has, as a corollary, "down with algebra".

Perhaps you misunderstand his proposal. He's not proposing to
eliminate fractions. Rather I think he is proposing that one
should teach decimal fractions first and delay the introduction
of integral fractions until they are actually needed and can be
better understood. I think that such a proposal shouldn't be
dismissed without intelligent discussion (which "He's a kook"
certainly is not). See my earlier post in this thread.

--Bill Dubuque
.



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