Promoting Arithmetic and Algebra By Example

Capt.Albatross writes "A couple of months ago, the New York Times published political scientist Andrew Hacker's opinion that teaching algebra is harmful. Today, it has followed up with an article that is clearly intended to indicate the usefulness of basic mathematics by suggesting useful exercises in a variety of 'real-world' topics. While the starter questions in each topic involve formula evaluation rather than symbolic manipulation, the follow-up questions invite readers to delve more deeply. The value of mathematics education has been a (recurring issue on Slashdot)."

Comments

Re:an example where algebra is useful?

[vrt3]

Still it's not as bad as measuring rainfall in liters per square meter like we do here in Spain.

I'm wondering, what exactly is the problem with that unit? Which alternative would you prefer?

Because if it's mm that you prefer, you're maybe interested to know that liter per square meter is exactly the same as mm:

liter / m^2 = dm^3 / m^2 = (10^-1 m)^3 / m^2 = 10^-3 m^3 / m^2 = 10^-3 m = mm