40% of College Students get this question wrong. AND IT MAKES ME ANGRY!
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Good to hear that SOMEONE is putting emphasis on skills in school. Around here math skills get you dick, though. Highest paying job in the REGION that isn't administrative or being a doctor is Berry Plastics, making Taco Bell cups for $14.25/hr. The sad thing is my first job working as an auto technician was $13/hr flat rate. Its all industry here =/ half the people that work there have GEDs and flunked out or dropped out of high school. Then again, I nearly dropped out. The educational system is as fucked up as the job market here.Megacherv said:
EDIT: To agree with the art major up there, art is one of the hardest things to get into. Creativity has been harshly judged for ages, whereas 2+2 always equals 4, your rendition of a Picasso may not be as well accepted. Plus, there's a billion art majors out there, so its quite a bit harder to shine in a river full of diamonds and shit. Plus, nobody really asks you how many different ways to make 2+2=4, however graphic artists get asked different ways to make a line, a face, a pose, all the time, and get demands to equate mundane things with a certain style, etc. It's hard work being imaginative all the time.
We just did this in math class, and im only a freshman in high school. The reason why people don't get this right is because th e American education system only teaches us enough to spit the answers right back out on a test and forget about it, if we don't exercise the knowledge we've learned, then we forget it, just like a muscle when you stop working out.
And yes, I got it wrong, i forgot the d*** FOIL formula...
And yes, I got it wrong, i forgot the d*** FOIL formula...
1. I never claimed that my major was superior.Clankenbeard said:All right math major, try to correctly spot the split infinitive in this sentence. Or tell me what an appositive phrase is. I bet an Enlish major could jump all over those. History majors could tell you who the fifth president was. Or what "54'40" or fight!" means. Literature majors can recite more than three basic lines of Shakespere. I'll be you had to read Shakespear. Can you tell me which of my two spellings for his name is the right one?buggy65 said:
It's algebra. You don't have to take it in school. You can go through your entire life without ever needing the polynomial expansion skill. If you want to solve your equation [as in (x+3)^2=0], then expanding it only makes it more difficult. You are better off stopping in the factored form, knowing that the parabola has one solution at x=-3 (it's minimum / apex).
While math is clearly your passion (and mine), you are judging others based on your own experiences and expertise. You are expecting them to know information that they were not required to learn. That's not fair to them. My mechnical engineering degree still leaves me feeling stupid and out of place in a room full of actors or doctors or hunting enthusiasts. I don't know what the hell is going on, but that's just because I didn't go down any of those paths. I'm not stupid--just out of my element.
I would recommend that you hold your anger for those who can't do their basic multiplication tables. This is likely a much smaller percentage but a lot more enraging. Oh yeah, I got the question right, if anybody read this far.
Here's one for you. What's wrong with this?
- a = b (now multiply both sides by a)
a^2 = ab (subtract b^2 form both sides)
a^2 - b^2 = ab - b^2 (now factor)
(a+b)(a-b) = b(a-b) (now remove common factors)
(a+b) = b (now substitute in a's ffor b's since b=a (first statement))
a+a = a (now simplify)
2a = a (now simplify again)
2 = 1 (now find the mistake)
2. I am upset because in order to get into college (here in America) you need to pass high school and the SATs. Both of which require Algebra I. Trig and Calculus are a secondary option. This is why I didn't expect people to know how to derive, or what sin(pi/2) was. FOIL is something everyone had to learn.
3. The fallacy with your above statement lies in the fact that you are dividing by zero (a-b).
I'm a college freshman and I got it no problem, then again foiling was drilled into my skull in high school.
Mkay, this is basic math and it's been answered a bazillion times. So I'm not going to bother answering it, Art is one of the most important thing in life. Sure you can memorize how to build something, and a bunch of math formulas. But it means nothing if you can't use some creativity to design something.
TS;DR: Fake majors..that's a low blow Colonel
TS;DR: Fake majors..that's a low blow Colonel
Besides, I major in Psychology which we all know is the best =P
I'm a history and political science major, I leave math to those who are good at it.
Try explaining the Victorian literary understanding of the Sepoy rebellion of 1857 and discuss. Or the historical significance of Johannes Guttenberg. Or contrast Machiavelli with Hobbes. College is about specializing in one field and not having to worry about all the general info high school taught you.
Mind you I remember that that's algebra but not having used it in over 5 years have made me uber rusty. Could probably have solved it given a few minutes to dig through my memories.
Edit: Oh and if you feel my examples are 'useless' how bout why the Iraq war is unwinnable. Ot how to the government should deal with Russia.
Try explaining the Victorian literary understanding of the Sepoy rebellion of 1857 and discuss. Or the historical significance of Johannes Guttenberg. Or contrast Machiavelli with Hobbes. College is about specializing in one field and not having to worry about all the general info high school taught you.
Mind you I remember that that's algebra but not having used it in over 5 years have made me uber rusty. Could probably have solved it given a few minutes to dig through my memories.
Edit: Oh and if you feel my examples are 'useless' how bout why the Iraq war is unwinnable. Ot how to the government should deal with Russia.
Eh, I use the Box method, never cared much for the FOIL method.
Just some simple algebraic math and bingo, you have...
EDIT: To add something to this, I absolutely love math. The fact that there is (usually) one and only one answer for most everything just makes me love solving for the right answer. It does sadden me that apparently 40%$ of college students can't solve a simple quadratic equation, as some have said before, there's no reason why they shouldn't know such a simple algebraic process in the first place.
EDIT 2: And to all those people saying "If the major doesn't depend on it, it doesn't matter!" That's not his point. The OP's point is that to even attempt to get into most colleges, you have to get a high score on the SAT or ACT or whateverthehell you have to take. Those tests require at least a basic understanding of Algebra. There's no reason why you shouldn't know at least basic algebra, even if it is debatable in use.
Just some simple algebraic math and bingo, you have...
x^2 + 6x + 9
EDIT: To add something to this, I absolutely love math. The fact that there is (usually) one and only one answer for most everything just makes me love solving for the right answer. It does sadden me that apparently 40%$ of college students can't solve a simple quadratic equation, as some have said before, there's no reason why they shouldn't know such a simple algebraic process in the first place.
EDIT 2: And to all those people saying "If the major doesn't depend on it, it doesn't matter!" That's not his point. The OP's point is that to even attempt to get into most colleges, you have to get a high score on the SAT or ACT or whateverthehell you have to take. Those tests require at least a basic understanding of Algebra. There's no reason why you shouldn't know at least basic algebra, even if it is debatable in use.
I agree with the Commissar above me.
Unless my field of study directly correlated with math heavy reliance, I would have no need to remember that type of information. And why does it make you angry, OP? When was the last time, in normal living, that someone walked up to you, and asked you, say about i?
When I was learning that stuff, first thought in my mind was "This is damned worthless. When the hell will I ever use this other than a math classroom?"
The thing is, once again, college isn't there to show you how to do higher math and such things unless you actually need them. There is a reason you won't find me being able to properly list off all the adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and whatever else is in a sentence because it is unnecessary knowledge for my degree. I think you missed the point of choosing a major in college.
Unless my field of study directly correlated with math heavy reliance, I would have no need to remember that type of information. And why does it make you angry, OP? When was the last time, in normal living, that someone walked up to you, and asked you, say about i?
When I was learning that stuff, first thought in my mind was "This is damned worthless. When the hell will I ever use this other than a math classroom?"
The thing is, once again, college isn't there to show you how to do higher math and such things unless you actually need them. There is a reason you won't find me being able to properly list off all the adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and whatever else is in a sentence because it is unnecessary knowledge for my degree. I think you missed the point of choosing a major in college.
I'm in 9th grade and i have never ever encountered an equation that mind-bendingly intricate am I in retarded math? Or does it come later?
It's not hard. (x+3)^2 translates into (x+3)(x+3). You then multiply x by x, x by 3, and 3 by 3, and combine like terms.
Curses, FOILed again?
Ah, math. That subject of great annoyance. FOIL never was a bother for me, since it's an acronym for First-times-First, Outside-times-Outside, Inside-times-Inside, and Last-times-Last. I am a college student who gets it, and who has gotten it for a long time...as my father was a math teacher. It's just tedious and time-consuming is all.
So no, college algebra did not hitch me up there, or with proportions, circumferences, or numerous things requiring the use of a graphing calculator. It's when they hit Imaginery Numbers that the trouble started. You see, when you think of math, you are constructing logical calculations. These are the numbers which all things in our lives (science, engineering, construction, etc.) must yield to. As soon as you stop dealing with numbers that exist, you've crossed over into philosophy.
Allow me to expand upon this (he said, making a pun about the result of a FOIL operation). Put simply, an Imaginery Number is whatever sort of integer - positive or negative - which cannot be resolved into a reasonable form. For instance, the square root of certain numbers produce a paradox of information that screws up a calculator easy. To whit, I find the calculation of Imaginery Numbers to be a waste of all time. They have no function in the real. They're theoretical aether that stumped mathmaticians throw their extra and unresolved formulae into, probably to end up as the sole content of Discreet Math. (I haven't taken Discreet Math, so I don't actually know this for a fact. This was merely a joke to poke fun at the die-hards a bit. All in good fun, fellas. Honest.)
Of course, quite alot of philosophers WERE mathmaticians, or delved into it alot, and god bless them. But it really doesn't make this little i , a symbol which professors refuse to call a kind of variable for simplicity's sake, any easier to deal with. It doesn't make courses that were required in your major any less unreasonable. The kind of problem that requires an Imaginery Number to crop up is one that has no basis in the real. All the uses of math taken in the real world and not simply discussion deals with numbers that exist. The bridge you build will not be measured with numbers followed by essentially a negative-nothing, a paradox of numerals.
Math doesn't have imagination. It is the sort of science which transforms the imaginery into something concrete and doable. So, while I'm not FOILed by this, it does irritate me, just so.
Ah, math. That subject of great annoyance. FOIL never was a bother for me, since it's an acronym for First-times-First, Outside-times-Outside, Inside-times-Inside, and Last-times-Last. I am a college student who gets it, and who has gotten it for a long time...as my father was a math teacher. It's just tedious and time-consuming is all.
So no, college algebra did not hitch me up there, or with proportions, circumferences, or numerous things requiring the use of a graphing calculator. It's when they hit Imaginery Numbers that the trouble started. You see, when you think of math, you are constructing logical calculations. These are the numbers which all things in our lives (science, engineering, construction, etc.) must yield to. As soon as you stop dealing with numbers that exist, you've crossed over into philosophy.
Allow me to expand upon this (he said, making a pun about the result of a FOIL operation). Put simply, an Imaginery Number is whatever sort of integer - positive or negative - which cannot be resolved into a reasonable form. For instance, the square root of certain numbers produce a paradox of information that screws up a calculator easy. To whit, I find the calculation of Imaginery Numbers to be a waste of all time. They have no function in the real. They're theoretical aether that stumped mathmaticians throw their extra and unresolved formulae into, probably to end up as the sole content of Discreet Math. (I haven't taken Discreet Math, so I don't actually know this for a fact. This was merely a joke to poke fun at the die-hards a bit. All in good fun, fellas. Honest.)
Of course, quite alot of philosophers WERE mathmaticians, or delved into it alot, and god bless them. But it really doesn't make this little i , a symbol which professors refuse to call a kind of variable for simplicity's sake, any easier to deal with. It doesn't make courses that were required in your major any less unreasonable. The kind of problem that requires an Imaginery Number to crop up is one that has no basis in the real. All the uses of math taken in the real world and not simply discussion deals with numbers that exist. The bridge you build will not be measured with numbers followed by essentially a negative-nothing, a paradox of numerals.
Math doesn't have imagination. It is the sort of science which transforms the imaginery into something concrete and doable. So, while I'm not FOILed by this, it does irritate me, just so.