Random Rants

darthnerdgasm:

dr-archeville:

scientiststhesis:

dr-archeville:

8bitstickmod:

nightguardmod:

songoharotto:

fabricated-amity:

my entire math life

This is basically the problem with the entire modern educational system.

Time to do unpopular opinion? Time to do unpopular opinion.

Balancing a checkbook is applied addition and subtraction, stuff of the third grade. Okay, yeah, it is a failure of the modern educational system if he hasn’t learned it by now.

Imaginary numbers interact with real numbers (1, 2, π, 1.5, etc) for complex numbers, and are useful if you want to get into engineering or science — you know, high paying jobs.

Remember Tomb Raider? How they make her turn? Quaternions, which use THREE sets of imaginary numbers.

Like how your cell phone gets reception? That requires resonance, the understanding of which can be aided by complex numbers.

And don’t even get me started in the more exotic physics like fluid dynamics or quantum mechanics. That is, the forefront of how planes fly and how computer chips work.

There’s this term, innumeracy, that is to math what illiteracy is to english. One thing that bugs me is when ignorance is paraded about, when one acts as if math is an optional knowledge. Doubly so when it’s the very thing holding them back.

The failure is not in teaching these things, but the lack of teaching about why we should care about these things.

Thank you maths side of tumblr

The failure is not in teaching these things, but the lack of teaching about why we should care about these things.

Come to think of it, that’s applicable to how a lot of subjects are taught.

But I’m afraid maths gets the worst of it, really. I mean, how often have you heard people complaining about history? Social sciences? Even chemistry, which is more specialised than maths? No, maths gets the worst of it by far, and everyone demonises it because no one ever tells them that maths is a language, and a quite difficult one at that, because it’s the language of the Universe (of god, if you will).

Not only that, but it’s also the only language that’s truly universal (we’re certain aliens will arrive at the same maths we have) and that can truly explain everything that’s in principle conceivable. Human language can describe the stuff we see, and some extrapolations we imagine; maths can describe everything that is, was, will be, has never been, and could ever be.

Everything is maths.

I completely agree with your point, though I have seen many, many people complain about history courses, both when I was in high school (soo long ago) and now on tumblr. ”Why bother remembering all these dates?” “Why bother? They’re all dead, they have no impact on me.”

Which gets back to the “teach them why they should care about these things”: the way things were are responsible for the way things are, the past shapes and molds the present. Misogyny and racism and all those other -isms didn’t just happen overnight, it took centuries to put them in place, and studying how they got put into place, and how/why they perpetuated for so long, is (I think) vital to figuring out how to tear them out of society now.

^all this, AND

“Why doesn’t school teach me something USEFUL, like how to balance a checkbook (or do taxes, or whatever)?”

Why, you ungrateful little shits, it is because it is not the role of your educational institution to wipe your ass when you make a doo-doo in the potty. The role of your educational institution is to give you the tools to learn how to do these things for yourself. Saying “why do I have to learn stupid math?” along with “why can’t you teach me to balance a checkbook?” is kind of like saying “why do I have to learn stupid sex education?” along with “why is my girlfriend suddenly pregnant?” Teaching you the fundamental basis of how the world works is the role of your educational institution; learning to be a responsible and functional human being is your fucking responsibility. There are plenty of people in this world, even in this so-called “first world”, that don’t have the benefit of government subsidized education, and they still manage to feed, clothe, and take care of themselves on a daily basis. In other words, stop putting the onus of responsibility for your life on someone else and take a little on yourself, you entitled fuckwits.

^ This

Also, balancing a checkbook is simple addition and subtraction.  I would hope by high school you would have figured out how to add and subtract.

(Source: dermit)

New Outfit.  I got this from a random alpaca capsule.  Pink isn’t my favorite color but I still think this outfit looks pretty good on my Halfkin thief.

brogeoisie:

❀ Thus, in the Ouran Host Club, handsome boys who have too much time on their hands flourish by entertaining equally idle girls. ❀

Reblogging for awesomeness.  I love Ouran.

(via mad-swtor-scribbles)