RE: [math-fun] Algebra I (RiP)
I know some kids who go to fancy private schools--maybe they'll let me sneak a peek at their texts. Sorry about the five times less--I felt a twinge, but couldn't find an obvious misinterpretation. Dan> Which is a bit like using the phrase
"most unsuperlative"
; or one could ask which imaginary animal is
"most nonexistent"
; and it could be quite useful to ask what of all things is the
"most vacuous"
, given how complicated a vacuum seems to be in modern physics.
There's a comedian (Steve Wright?) who perplexes burger-flippers by *insisting* on extra-medium. I concluded:
To sum up, p295, Caption: Wall Drug is a landmark in South Dakota. The store's fame began during the 1930s--the Great Depression--when it offered free ice water to travelers. Seriously, to sum up, at the end of a course taught from this book, I doubt anyone could answer the question "What is algebra?". And he would have approximately zero manipulative skill. This book could serve a course called Compulsory Algebra ("No lout nor ditz left behind"). It doesn't matter that the Snowflake photo on p15 *completely* misses the point of fractals--the sullen sufferers would forget the correct, self-similar picture just as quickly. But there must also be Nerd Algebra for those who damnwell *will* leave the others behind. And the only pictures in its book would be parts of problem descriptions. (E.g., click on Algebra Lesson on my bogus Google page: http://gosper.org/Googebra.htm .)
PS, p 73: IMPROVING YOUR REASONING SKILLS A glyph is a symbol that presents information nonverbally. No it isn't. It's a carving, e.g. petroglyph or dermatoglyphics. They probably mean ideogram. Way to go, Accuracy Checker. --------------------------------- Fussy? Opinionated? Impossible to please? Perfect. Join Yahoo!'s user panel and lay it on us.
Bill Gosper writes
Seriously, to sum up, at the end of a course taught from this book, I doubt anyone could answer the question "What is algebra?".
Well, I haven't taken the course but even so I don't know how to answer this question. I'd be most interested in anyone else's answer. We're certainly not talking about "modern algebra" a la Birkhoff-MacLane, so what is "high school algebra" about? I think of it as where you learn to say "let x be ..... " Any other ideas?
dgale>Well, I haven't taken the course but even so I don't know how to answer this question. I'd be most interested in anyone else's answer. We're certainly not talking about "modern algebra" a la Birkhoff-MacLane, so what is "high school algebra" about? I think of it as where you learn to say "let x be ..... " Sure. Polynomial arithmetic (maybe stopping short of resultants), factoring, apples&oranges, Anne&Mary, the quadratic eqn, "fundamental thm". The contents of a typical ca 1900 introductory text. (Not Chrystal's, except for Ubergeeks.) After 700 pages, I don't think my friend's algebra book got to factoring, but I can't check. He handed back the book and changed schools. dgale>PS. If your immediate reaction was, it's because of sex with sex workers, you belong to a large group. Do the survey takers count as sex workers? --rwg
This post is 250% more less unique than the others. Bill Gosper wrote:
I know some kids who go to fancy private schools--maybe they'll let me sneak a peek at their texts. Sorry about the five times less--I felt a twinge, but couldn't find an obvious misinterpretation. Dan> Which is a bit like using the phrase
"most unsuperlative"
; or one could ask which imaginary animal is
"most nonexistent"
; and it could be quite useful to ask what of all things is the
"most vacuous"
, given how complicated a vacuum seems to be in modern physics.
There's a comedian (Steven Wright?) who perplexes burger-flippers by *insisting* on extra-medium.
participants (4)
-
Bill Gosper -
David Gale -
R. William Gosper -
Steve Gray