7 was indeed ok. But if every Windows OS was free, I'd be using Linux anyway, now. Too many dingbat hassles with Windows overall, and Linux, while not perfect, is a much better fit for me.
Early on, I was impressed. It sounded like they were really listening to user input. They were asking and listening. But lately they seem not to be doing so well.
It was reliable enough for me, but it ended up that I just didn't care for it. The interface just wasted my time and felt clunky. The interface got between me and what I wanted to do rather than expediting my work.
I was unclear. Sorry. I had 8 / 8.1 for a little while. What it did, once I sorted out the interface, was ok for my limited needs. I was, at the time, dual booting with Linux, and after a while realized I hadn't used Windows in a long time. (Not because of un-usability or unreliability, but because Linux was and is so much better, for me.) Soon after, I demolished the Windows partition and turned it into storage space. So, my reference to the sad moment of 8 8.1 refers to it's public reception, rather than it's underlying utility. My comment related to the PR shitstorm that a clunky interface generated, and the urgent need for Microsoft to get EVERYTHING right in 10 - to show that they can deliver. I would have thought they would have had seamlessly perfect updates etc, at least for a while to look great to the public.
My try with 8.1 was made in the hope they would make better use of the Metro interface. I was disappointed. I believe they threw away a real opportunity. I'm kind of baffled at what seems to me to be flailing around.
After the Win 8 mess, I'm sure Microsoft is hugely focused on reliability, and yet a series of errors with updates like this happen. Are they hitting a wall of unmanageable complexity? I ask this seriously - not as a Msft hater or as a troll, but I really wonder how/why it seems 10 is struggling. I no longer use Windows so maybe I'm missing out on something obvious to people more knowledgeable.
I know I would do better in ANY kind of math, because learning some linear algebra on my own forced upon me a level of math discipline I never needed before.
Even if I'm missing a great deal, linear algebra has opened up and illuminated subjects I never thought it would.
I mess with math just for fun. I don't have the chops to go far at all, but linear algebra has been a fascinatingly different view into all sorts on areas. Just looking at complex numbers from another angle was a revelation.
But the essentials of calc, where the underlying logic and beauty live, can be taught and understood far more quickly and directly than the extended full monty that seems the only way it is taught. Not aiming for dumbing down, but to give a wider circle a rudimentary sense of the hows and whys. Maybe a tiny part of a good base for a more comprehending citizenry?
Exactly. You are a natural math teacher. First he's ever had. Schools treat math teaching pretty much the same as a soft subject, where expertise and natural teaching ability are not absolutely mandatory. Math should get first pick of teachers and higher pay if needed to get good teachers.
Who gets good pay for trades work may be regional. In parts of the Northeast, at least, a plumber who doesn't flood the house and leaves it in better shape than when he arrived will do just fine.
Nahh, common sense, life experience, skepticism, and growing a sufficiently robust bullshit detector are the means to listen effectively to politicians and the like.
Math by itself helps, but the inner, "Oh that sounds wrong", dialog box is the real start.
Regardless, the changes I'd make would be to improve the quality of algebra teaching, and maybe add more math.... Kids deserve to have a robust tool set that can take them anywhere they may find themselves wanting to go. Why limit them from the get go?????
But!!!!! So what? Another point of view is that math may be the first place in someone's life where a bit of hard work is the only way to get through a problem. One of my best teachers in high school, an Aussie, put it directly that of course, the problem you don't get will be like hitting a brick wall, and only perseverance will get you through.
Work.
Bless him. He was the first, most honest teacher I had, regarding powering through problems I didn't get. The difficulty isn't the issue, it's getting the message through to students that sometimes with math (and other things) total failure is just the first step to mastery.
Thanks for supporting a suspicion I've had for a long time, that the difficulties students have in math are at least partly because unqualified teachers are jammed into "teaching" algebra.
I was lucky. I had two good teachers at the algebra level, and then a pair of inspirational calculus and physics teachers, all by the end of high school. Even the physics teacher integrated an excellent mini calculus course snuck into a corner of the physics class to make better sense of newtonian physics. That was wonderful. ("integrated" pun not intended)
While I do not use algebraic or higher math for work - I'm an artist / designer - I don't regret the math I took in middle and high school, not for a moment. Rather, I'm grateful. It showed me a form of beauty I might never have known. I still enjoy reading up on math, have a big pile of math books and have recently started learning linear algebra, just for the heck of it. On an unrelated note, linear algebra is the hardest math I've ever run into. Maybe the first time I have ever found math to require hardscrabble work to grok.
Slashdot Mirror
7 was indeed ok. But if every Windows OS was free, I'd be using Linux anyway, now. Too many dingbat hassles with Windows overall, and Linux, while not perfect, is a much better fit for me.
My sense exactly.
I dunno. It feels like they are on a very slippery slope towards danger.
Evidently, yes...
Early on, I was impressed. It sounded like they were really listening to user input. They were asking and listening. But lately they seem not to be doing so well.
It was reliable enough for me, but it ended up that I just didn't care for it. The interface just wasted my time and felt clunky. The interface got between me and what I wanted to do rather than expediting my work.
My try with 8.1 was made in the hope they would make better use of the Metro interface. I was disappointed. I believe they threw away a real opportunity. I'm kind of baffled at what seems to me to be flailing around.
After the Win 8 mess, I'm sure Microsoft is hugely focused on reliability, and yet a series of errors with updates like this happen. Are they hitting a wall of unmanageable complexity? I ask this seriously - not as a Msft hater or as a troll, but I really wonder how/why it seems 10 is struggling. I no longer use Windows so maybe I'm missing out on something obvious to people more knowledgeable.
The stupidity is strong here.
I know I would do better in ANY kind of math, because learning some linear algebra on my own forced upon me a level of math discipline I never needed before.
Yes! A good foundation is everything.
I mess with math just for fun. I don't have the chops to go far at all, but linear algebra has been a fascinatingly different view into all sorts on areas. Just looking at complex numbers from another angle was a revelation.
I'm still a ways from differential equations. Darn. Thought I had grokked something and now I find it's a faux grok.
One thing that gets lost is that there IS room for creativity in math - you saw that he had the opportunity and missed it.
But the essentials of calc, where the underlying logic and beauty live, can be taught and understood far more quickly and directly than the extended full monty that seems the only way it is taught. Not aiming for dumbing down, but to give a wider circle a rudimentary sense of the hows and whys. Maybe a tiny part of a good base for a more comprehending citizenry?
Also, given better teaching, maybe some teacher might be able to make note of the beauty hiding in plain sight in math and geometry.
Yes! More time - but it must be well spent with better math teachers at least.
Awww, cmon! That's practically trolling.
Yes! Understanding FIRST!
Exactly. You are a natural math teacher. First he's ever had. Schools treat math teaching pretty much the same as a soft subject, where expertise and natural teaching ability are not absolutely mandatory. Math should get first pick of teachers and higher pay if needed to get good teachers.
Who gets good pay for trades work may be regional. In parts of the Northeast, at least, a plumber who doesn't flood the house and leaves it in better shape than when he arrived will do just fine.
Math by itself helps, but the inner, "Oh that sounds wrong", dialog box is the real start.
Regardless, the changes I'd make would be to improve the quality of algebra teaching, and maybe add more math.... Kids deserve to have a robust tool set that can take them anywhere they may find themselves wanting to go. Why limit them from the get go?????
Work.
Bless him. He was the first, most honest teacher I had, regarding powering through problems I didn't get. The difficulty isn't the issue, it's getting the message through to students that sometimes with math (and other things) total failure is just the first step to mastery.
I was lucky. I had two good teachers at the algebra level, and then a pair of inspirational calculus and physics teachers, all by the end of high school. Even the physics teacher integrated an excellent mini calculus course snuck into a corner of the physics class to make better sense of newtonian physics. That was wonderful. ("integrated" pun not intended)
While I do not use algebraic or higher math for work - I'm an artist / designer - I don't regret the math I took in middle and high school, not for a moment. Rather, I'm grateful. It showed me a form of beauty I might never have known. I still enjoy reading up on math, have a big pile of math books and have recently started learning linear algebra, just for the heck of it. On an unrelated note, linear algebra is the hardest math I've ever run into. Maybe the first time I have ever found math to require hardscrabble work to grok.
I'd look at ads if the advertiser paid me to. Maybe. But in the meantime, back in reality, malware filled crap gets a big fat NO.