I first had access to the internet back in '96 when I was a sophomore in High School. I've written TONS of research papers since then, even more so in college. Using the internet to look up information not only returns better (and more) information than the library would have, but it's faster. For example, you could look up ATP in an encyclopedia, but if you saw "nucleotide" and didn't know what that was.. guess what? Flip to Nucleotide.. look it up.. etc etc. as opposed to clicking a single link provided on MOST pages that explain ATP. Faster, more efficient data retreival.
This is what I don't understand about professors. They're so hard up for you to use the library, but there's really no point in it. If my assignment is to compare and contrast two authors, wtf difference does it make if I use the library vs. Google? It's like those math teachers in the 60's who frowned upon calculators and insisted you use your "handy, tried and true" slide rule
ATP and nucleoties? Dude... the difference between a high-school project and an actual research paper is HUGE. For instance, journals immidiately spring to mind. Some aren't online, some only for rather large fees, etc etc. But your university library is guaranteed to have everything you need, with some resources being so detailed you can't understand them without a PhD in the subject. Google and past search engine champs are great tools, but sometimes a different tool is appropriate for the job at hand. Granted, in your examples a library would be huge overkill, and google is definitely the way to go. However, for some subjects the internet just isn't where it's at... my personal (and rather small) collection of Actuarial Science-related books easily puts the Internet to shame.
Also... slide rules have their place. STILL. Pilots use them all the time, quicker than a calculator and as accurate as they need. Calculators are also a tool, but too frequently are used as a crutch, especially when I'm hearing about students in high schools constanly using graphing calcs. They're a great tool, but at some point you're substituting learning why you're pushing those buttons with simply memorizing the sequence of buttons to push
Agreed. There's a lot of highschool math that I think is taught pretty poorly, generally (in my opinion) because: A) A lot of early highschool (grades 9 and 10) math teachers are really say, phys-ed or english or biology (or whatever) teachers who are perfectly capable of teaching out of the book, but pretty much lack any interest in the subject and are unable to present things in an alternate way if students find the method outlined in the text unclear. B) School administrators (and those higher up who set curriculum) are generally not geek-types, and as such don't always make the best math education choices (just as a math major wouldn't be able to set up an effective sociology program for instance)
A consequence of the two above points is that calculators keep creeping in more and more... with even teachers relying on pushing buttons and blindly accepting the answer as the truth.
Looking back on highschool, the few things in math that seemed tricky/hard to me at the time were basically so because of the calculator. In 1st year university, no calcs allowed made things a lot clearer, since we were forced to actually think about what we were doing for half a second (or slightly more).
I guess the point of my slightly rambling post is that just like times tables are taught by rote memorization so it almost all math (until at least partway into university). It's not a big deal that Johnny can't say, derive complex theorems from first principles... but it is a big deal that Johnny's learning how to memorize and not how to think.
Well... a planetary sheild *has* been done before... we just need to learn from others mistakes and not cave in to plastic surgery threats, or make the combination 12345.
3 11/32nds inches, BTW;)
--
Buy clothes & make my wife happy! [ebay.com]
3 11/32 inches?? I hope you're using the clothes money to buy some creams or pumps or something... I'm sure *that* would make her happy. I get several offers/day for these types of products in my inbox, shall I forward them to you?;)
Re:Today only, free access courtesy of Slashdot
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· Score: 2, Funny
4th and 70? That's field goal range man... why the hell would you punt??
Without the calculator theres no way 90^ of us could do calculus.
Even with a calculator, 90% of us can't do calculus. Hell, I'd be surprised if 90% of Americans can do basic arithmetic with fractions even with the assistance of a graphing calculator, a computer running Mathematica, and a math tutor! Honestly!
How does a calculator help with calculus at all really?? Seriously... I just finished my BMath, and in 4 university calculus courses... I don't think I touched a calculator once. We weren't even allowed to bring a $1 non-scientific to exams.
Time corporate lackey: Sir, the pocket protector brigade is getting mad at us... yet our ad revenue is increasing... what should we do??
Time corporate honcho: This is that slashdot thing you've told me about isn't it? I've taken a look around there... and the only thing I can figure out is that they seem to have a thing for Natalie Portman, they like hot grits, and something about a be wolf cluster.
Time corporate lackey: I know! I'll get Natalie Portman to pose with some hot grits, surrounded by a cluster of wolves. Our hits should go through the roof!
Time corporate honcho: That's exactly the kind of thinking we need around here... you'll go far son
ones you've missed that I've not seen added already:
The Sun^H^H^H BSD is dying
Wow, I bet you could really make some hot grits with that
If that thing blows it'll be bigger than even goatsecx guy ..... truely a celestial icon
something about Natalie Portman...
sn't the lowest common denominator always 1 and therefore pretty useless mathematically? I think the greatest common denominator is what people mean to say. Something that all numbers (people, etc.) have in common. So I guess that we should say that M$ users are, taken as a set, relatively prime. Interesting....
Methinks you mean divisor, not denominator.... They're quite different. Besides... even when you're talking about LCD (divisor) it's understood that you mean "where LCD > 1", smartass;)
I predict that this thermal paste will be useful for putting down one's pants. In order to conduct heat away from any hot grits present.
Just make sure you take the Natalie Portman effect into consideration, or else you might get a lethal beowulf cluster on your hands. I heard Stephen King forgot... he was truely an American icon.
resulting in an infinite loop which caused all lawsuits involving companies with the letter sco in their name and unix IP to vanish in a puff of logic, and we all lived happily ever after
The language was designed for teaching, and I've found that it does a good job of enforcing concepts. For example in BASIC the = is used both as assignment and comparison, while in Turing you use:= for assignment. (just one example)
Syntax-wise, Turing is pretty much Pascal with a few tweaks to it, so it's not nearly as difficult as grasping something like C right off the top. Even better would be something like OOT (Object Oriented Turing). Like C++, it can handle regular Turing (C) code, but if you get to the point where you want to introduct objects then they'd already be in an environment that they're familiar with.
Basically, I would thing that you're looking at LOGO, BASIC, Pascal, Turing etc... but if you're looking to teach, it's hard to go wrong with a language specifically designed for teaching.
Yeah... either that or you could write a virus that could rip that place off bigtime.
Of course then you risk getting sent to a federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison... but hey, no guts no glory. If you're interested, I think Samir knows the credit union's software well enough
Slashdot Mirror
37
I first had access to the internet back in '96 when I was a sophomore in High School. I've written TONS of research papers since then, even more so in college. Using the internet to look up information not only returns better (and more) information than the library would have, but it's faster. For example, you could look up ATP in an encyclopedia, but if you saw "nucleotide" and didn't know what that was.. guess what? Flip to Nucleotide.. look it up.. etc etc. as opposed to clicking a single link provided on MOST pages that explain ATP. Faster, more efficient data retreival.
This is what I don't understand about professors. They're so hard up for you to use the library, but there's really no point in it. If my assignment is to compare and contrast two authors, wtf difference does it make if I use the library vs. Google? It's like those math teachers in the 60's who frowned upon calculators and insisted you use your "handy, tried and true" slide rule
ATP and nucleoties? Dude... the difference between a high-school project and an actual research paper is HUGE. For instance, journals immidiately spring to mind. Some aren't online, some only for rather large fees, etc etc. But your university library is guaranteed to have everything you need, with some resources being so detailed you can't understand them without a PhD in the subject. Google and past search engine champs are great tools, but sometimes a different tool is appropriate for the job at hand. Granted, in your examples a library would be huge overkill, and google is definitely the way to go. However, for some subjects the internet just isn't where it's at... my personal (and rather small) collection of Actuarial Science-related books easily puts the Internet to shame.
Also... slide rules have their place. STILL. Pilots use them all the time, quicker than a calculator and as accurate as they need. Calculators are also a tool, but too frequently are used as a crutch, especially when I'm hearing about students in high schools constanly using graphing calcs. They're a great tool, but at some point you're substituting learning why you're pushing those buttons with simply memorizing the sequence of buttons to push
7*8=56, on the other hand, is rote memorization
Agreed. There's a lot of highschool math that I think is taught pretty poorly, generally (in my opinion) because:
A) A lot of early highschool (grades 9 and 10) math teachers are really say, phys-ed or english or biology (or whatever) teachers who are perfectly capable of teaching out of the book, but pretty much lack any interest in the subject and are unable to present things in an alternate way if students find the method outlined in the text unclear.
B) School administrators (and those higher up who set curriculum) are generally not geek-types, and as such don't always make the best math education choices (just as a math major wouldn't be able to set up an effective sociology program for instance)
A consequence of the two above points is that calculators keep creeping in more and more... with even teachers relying on pushing buttons and blindly accepting the answer as the truth.
Looking back on highschool, the few things in math that seemed tricky/hard to me at the time were basically so because of the calculator. In 1st year university, no calcs allowed made things a lot clearer, since we were forced to actually think about what we were doing for half a second (or slightly more).
I guess the point of my slightly rambling post is that just like times tables are taught by rote memorization so it almost all math (until at least partway into university). It's not a big deal that Johnny can't say, derive complex theorems from first principles... but it is a big deal that Johnny's learning how to memorize and not how to think.
Haven't seen it in a month or so... but I think you've got Jake and Elwood backwards... at least the last 2 lines.
Well... a planetary sheild *has* been done before... we just need to learn from others mistakes and not cave in to plastic surgery threats, or make the combination 12345.
What's wrong with Cuba??
;)
I was just there... great place! Nice weather, wonderful people, no Americans.
3 11/32nds inches, BTW ;)
;)
--
Buy clothes & make my wife happy! [ebay.com]
3 11/32 inches?? I hope you're using the clothes money to buy some creams or pumps or something... I'm sure *that* would make her happy. I get several offers/day for these types of products in my inbox, shall I forward them to you?
4th and 70? That's field goal range man... why the hell would you punt??
What's wrong with Halifax?? seemed fine to me... though I was there not less than 2 months ago, so maybe there've been improvements...
Without the calculator theres no way 90^ of us could do calculus.
Even with a calculator, 90% of us can't do calculus. Hell, I'd be surprised if 90% of Americans can do basic arithmetic with fractions even with the assistance of a graphing calculator, a computer running Mathematica, and a math tutor! Honestly!
How does a calculator help with calculus at all really?? Seriously... I just finished my BMath, and in 4 university calculus courses... I don't think I touched a calculator once. We weren't even allowed to bring a $1 non-scientific to exams.
Time corporate lackey: Sir, the pocket protector brigade is getting mad at us... yet our ad revenue is increasing... what should we do??
Time corporate honcho: This is that slashdot thing you've told me about isn't it? I've taken a look around there... and the only thing I can figure out is that they seem to have a thing for Natalie Portman, they like hot grits, and something about a be wolf cluster.
Time corporate lackey: I know! I'll get Natalie Portman to pose with some hot grits, surrounded by a cluster of wolves. Our hits should go through the roof!
Time corporate honcho: That's exactly the kind of thinking we need around here... you'll go far son
ones you've missed that I've not seen added already:
..... truely a celestial icon
The Sun^H^H^H BSD is dying
Wow, I bet you could really make some hot grits with that
If that thing blows it'll be bigger than even goatsecx guy
something about Natalie Portman...
That should about cover it I think
sn't the lowest common denominator always 1 and therefore pretty useless mathematically? I think the greatest common denominator is what people mean to say. Something that all numbers (people, etc.) have in common. So I guess that we should say that M$ users are, taken as a set, relatively prime. Interesting....
;)
Methinks you mean divisor, not denominator.... They're quite different. Besides... even when you're talking about LCD (divisor) it's understood that you mean "where LCD > 1", smartass
I can see the slashdot poll now... "Which editor figure are you most likely to buy?"
I predict a big win for CowboyNeal
I predict that this thermal paste will be useful for putting down one's pants. In order to conduct heat away from any hot grits present.
Just make sure you take the Natalie Portman effect into consideration, or else you might get a lethal beowulf cluster on your hands. I heard Stephen King forgot... he was truely an American icon.
resulting in an infinite loop which caused all lawsuits involving companies with the letter sco in their name and unix IP to vanish in a puff of logic, and we all lived happily ever after
Does Microsoft's use of BSD code count??
2 universities... golden.net... so where in k/w are you? ;)
Isn't a half bad choice if you can find a copy.
:= for assignment. (just one example)
The language was designed for teaching, and I've found that it does a good job of enforcing concepts. For example in BASIC the = is used both as assignment and comparison, while in Turing you use
Syntax-wise, Turing is pretty much Pascal with a few tweaks to it, so it's not nearly as difficult as grasping something like C right off the top. Even better would be something like OOT (Object Oriented Turing). Like C++, it can handle regular Turing (C) code, but if you get to the point where you want to introduct objects then they'd already be in an environment that they're familiar with.
Basically, I would thing that you're looking at LOGO, BASIC, Pascal, Turing etc... but if you're looking to teach, it's hard to go wrong with a language specifically designed for teaching.
I'm so happy to be a Beta....
;)
Farenheit 451 eh?? Sure you're not a delta or an epsilon?
(This, the clever reader will observe, is a rhetorical question.)
"Do I know what rhetorical means?!" - HJ Simpson
(Wow -- every sentence a question.)
"Do I know what rhetorical means?" - Homer J. Simpson
not to nitpick... well, actually... I'm nitpicking but whatever. it's a pretty big nit
the "some Canadian university" was University of Waterloo.
the C# is only for engineers. The math faculty (that's right... we get a BMath), which covers CS and engineering facutly are completely different
Yeah... either that or you could write a virus that could rip that place off bigtime.
Of course then you risk getting sent to a federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison... but hey, no guts no glory. If you're interested, I think Samir knows the credit union's software well enough
Whooah hold on, Goobers gave us something else to call rednecks
I always thought that was a reference to Gomer and Goober from The Andy Griffith Show (formerly Mayberry RFD)... no?
work, as I would suspect any number of sixes on either end will
I submit my counter-example...
16/60 = 4/15
not
16/60 = 1/0