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RE: Hardly Anyone Remembers How to do Fractions
January 16, 2017 at 12:00 pm
(January 16, 2017 at 10:14 am)Faith No More Wrote: I get that people forget things if they don't use them(hell, if I only had a dollar for each thing I've forgotten that I should know), but it's really foreign to me that people can forget how to use fractions. I get it if you need to be reminded what COS is or how to calculate a derivative, but basic fractions?
You just have to go SEC those answers when you need them. 
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RE: Hardly Anyone Remembers How to do Fractions
January 16, 2017 at 12:04 pm
(This post was last modified: January 16, 2017 at 12:06 pm by Whateverist.)
(January 16, 2017 at 9:51 am)LastPoet Wrote: (January 16, 2017 at 12:28 am)Tiberius Wrote: Wrong! Its 132/1 x 64/1
Its more like 264/2 ×128/2
Equivocation fallacy.
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RE: Hardly Anyone Remembers How to do Fractions
January 16, 2017 at 12:29 pm
(January 16, 2017 at 10:14 am)Faith No More Wrote: I get that people forget things if they don't use them
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RE: Hardly Anyone Remembers How to do Fractions
January 16, 2017 at 12:36 pm
(This post was last modified: January 16, 2017 at 12:39 pm by TheRealJoeFish.)
![[Image: pifraction-cartoon.jpg]](https://images.weserv.nl/?url=www.sciencehumor.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2F08%2Fpifraction-cartoon.jpg)
Note: Math is definitely something you either use or lose, much to my chagrin. I studied mathematics in college, and was pretty darn good at math competitions and the like. I still try to do the Putnam Exam when it comes out, and I occasionally leaf through my college textbooks, but... it gets a little harder every year. I pulled out my Elliptic Curves textbook this week, and my experience was a lot like the experience many people who last studied math in high school have with fractions - I looked at it, I understood what it was talking about, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to do it.
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RE: Hardly Anyone Remembers How to do Fractions
January 16, 2017 at 11:24 pm
It's probably because I have to deal with fractional feet and inch measurements at work, but I have no problem working with fractions.
Working a square root by hand?!? Fuggitabouddit.
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RE: Hardly Anyone Remembers How to do Fractions
January 17, 2017 at 12:39 am
It's bad enough that many people have forgotteon how to do fractions, but the fact that somehow 132*64 is easier for people to calculate than 1/3+1/4 astonishes me to no end.
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RE: Hardly Anyone Remembers How to do Fractions
January 17, 2017 at 12:44 am
(January 17, 2017 at 12:39 am)Rev. Rye Wrote: It's bad enough that many people have forgotteon how to do fractions, but the fact that somehow 132*64 is easier for people to calculate than 1/3+1/4 astonishes me to no end.
That's only because they know how to punch 132*64 into a calculator.
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RE: Hardly Anyone Remembers How to do Fractions
January 17, 2017 at 1:43 am
(This post was last modified: January 17, 2017 at 1:45 am by SteelCurtain.)
I keep sharp by doing Project Euler. @ robvalue you'd love it.
http://www.projecteuler.net
I've done the first 25. They take some time, but they are rewarding and keep you sharp.
For example, problem 25:
Project Euler Wrote:The Fibonacci sequence is defined by the recurrence relation:
Fn = Fn−1 + Fn−2, where F1 = 1 and F2 = 1.
Hence the first 12 terms will be:
F1 = 1
F2 = 1
F3 = 2
F4 = 3
F5 = 5
F6 = 8
F7 = 13
F8 = 21
F9 = 34
F10 = 55
F11 = 89
F12 = 144
The 12th term, F12, is the first term to contain three digits.
What is the index of the first term in the Fibonacci sequence to contain 1000 digits?
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RE: Hardly Anyone Remembers How to do Fractions
January 17, 2017 at 8:32 am
(This post was last modified: January 17, 2017 at 8:43 am by Firefighter01.)
(January 16, 2017 at 12:49 am)pool the great Wrote: firefighter01 Wrote:I own a business where employees need to now how to work out fractions and long multiplication to do their job efficiently.
Don't we have calculators for that already? Maths is just ewww
Lol! I love it when they ask for a calculator for a fractions question and they still can't do it!
(January 15, 2017 at 2:21 pm)RoadRunner79 Wrote: (January 15, 2017 at 4:06 am)Firefighter01 Wrote: I own a business where employees need to now how to work out fractions and long multiplication to do their job efficiently. Here are my questions that I placed in their interview exam to determine if they know basic maths:
1. 1/4 + 1/3 =
2. 1/4 x 1/3 =
3. 132 x 64 =
Only about 3 applicants over dozens that have sat the exam have answered all questions correctly. Most of them got the last one right, but they used their mobile phones. I originally thought that the questions were too easy, but apparently they are now redundant? I don't know why teachers today don't teach fractions so that their students are competent in their usage, or is it a case that they aren't considered important enough to warrant any special attention?
Where these young people just out of school, or older people, who may have forgot from lack of use? Just curious. I would think that those just out of school should remember enough to at least attempt it. Someone who hasn't done these things in ten years, I have a little more understanding.
Also, curious what type of job this was? Perhaps if you our having difficulty, you could test for the necessary aptitude, to do the problems, and those who could relatively quickly be shon how to do the problems. I find both younger and older people struggle with simple maths. I own a pest control business and the techs need to know how to mix pesticides in the right ratios. I do a lot of training and most pick it up pretty quickly. Unfortunately the really slow ones don't make it past the interview, as it takes too much time to get them competent.
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RE: Hardly Anyone Remembers How to do Fractions
January 17, 2017 at 9:34 am
(This post was last modified: January 17, 2017 at 11:04 am by Whateverist.)
(January 16, 2017 at 12:36 pm)TheRealJoeFish Wrote:
Note: Math is definitely something you either use or lose, much to my chagrin. I studied mathematics in college, and was pretty darn good at math competitions and the like. I still try to do the Putnam Exam when it comes out, and I occasionally leaf through my college textbooks, but... it gets a little harder every year. I pulled out my Elliptic Curves textbook this week, and my experience was a lot like the experience many people who last studied math in high school have with fractions - I looked at it, I understood what it was talking about, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to do it.
Still not a ratio of integers but nice rebuke of a sloppy assertion.
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