Hands using laptop with mathematical formulas. Online education concept

Math Is Hard

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by

Chris Johnson
in ,

My oldest son is on the spectrum. He has a job but does not have a license. He still lives with his mother, my ex-wife.

When he was in middle school, I attended an IEP (individual education plan). This is where we lay out what accommodations he needs and how best to get him educated.

I’m in a conference room with his “team”. This is the principal, multiple teachers, the special-ed coordinator and a few specialists. There are two males in the room. The principal and me.

As we start the meeting, the special-ed coordinator says, “These math classes are difficult. We believe that your son will be best served by removing the math requirement. Math is hard.”

I was livid. “Have you ever talked to him? Do you have a clue as to what is capabilities are in math? That is his easiest class? I’m betting that not a one of you majored in a STEM major. Math is hard? No, it is hard for you.”

This is one of the most important concepts in mathematics. Anything times zero is zero. Dividing anything by zero is undefined.

Calculus is about pretending you can divide by zero. Not because you are dividing by zero, but you are using a very small number in place of zero. Or, as calculus puts it, “as delta x approaches zero…”

  • The parent has fail math
  • Unless the third grader is Sheldon or Doogie, the correct answer is, 0. And for most people, of any age, the answer is 0. Context matters.
  • Sounds like the parents gotta go back to third grade LOL
  • I disagree that a number divided by zero is undefined. You had a number, 1, in this case. Then you didn’t divide it. So, 1 remains untouched. It shouldn’t lose its definition based on something you didn’t do.
  • Teachers right tho
  • Logically he is technically right. If you have one thing then divide it by nothing then you still have that thing cause there is nothing to divide by.
  • Both the parent and the kids sharing the same brain cell
  • She didn’t know the answer is infinity either.
  • typical USA level education
  • Yes, give up this fight. This is sufficiently correct for grammar school.

There are more idiots responding. Luckily, those that can do simple math out number them.

The follow up seems to be that the teacher wrote an apologized, claiming that she was taught that 1/0=0 back in the 90s.

        

Comments

4 responses to “Math Is Hard”

  1. It's just Boris Avatar
    It’s just Boris

    This reminds me of the “hampster” incident

    As the little boy said to the Terminator, we’re not going to make it, are we?

    Then again, I suspect these types of people were always with us, they just didn’t have a forum for being so widely recognized before.

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  2. curby Avatar
    curby

    the WORST thing ANY teacher can say is-“this is hard to learn”… you just put a YUGE roadblock in this kids mind.
    I remember centuries ago my senior high math teacher told my parents I will never be able to do math… fukkin fooled him. I was extremely bored in schoolhe sukked as a teacher.. since then I have used math every day… in laying out antennas measured to the proper freq, calculating a star ground grid, using a volt/ohm meter. building a chrome plating shop, calculating correct amps for plating, ect…. only time Im bad at math is tax time… heh

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  3. Jim_R Avatar
    Jim_R

    At 67, I still remember a test problem in elementary school where we were supposed to subtract 5 from 3, I put down -2 and the answer was marked wrong. The teacher wrote in “0” as the “correct” response.

    When I complained to the teacher, explaining that my answer was correct and what she expected was not, her response was “But I haven’t taught you that yet.” and left it marked as incorrect.

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  4. Allyson Avatar
    Allyson

    I struggled with math in high school. I am the type of person who asks “why” an awful lot. Because I struggled with math in high school, I did what I always did: I asked why. The teacher told me I didn’t need to worry about why, I just needed to do what he said. After several iterations, I just slumped away, knowing I was “stupid” about math. He discouraged me so badly that I’ve been “bad at math” since then.

    Several years later, a boyfriend I had was an adjunct teacher at a university. He was teaching chemistry in the evenings, the introductory course for med students (ie challenging, serious chemistry, not for beginners). I’d never taken chem in high school, but I knew the teacher well and I was “only” auditing the course, not taking it for credit. I decided to try.

    I attended the first class, wrote copious amounts of information in my notebook, and was very discouraged. Still, I was determined. I went home, and I followed what I was taught in class. I attempted to do the “basic” stoichiometric math I was presented with. I fought with that (CENSORED) thing for ages, and ended up in tears. I knew I was dumb when it came to math. I was going to fail. Again.

    I finally called on Chris to help. He took me back to “the beginning” and had me start all over again. Four hours later, with more sobbing and self deprecation, I called my boyfriend and asked him to help.

    His approach was different. He took the very complex (to me) equation and made it simple. Basically he made it into “A squared plus B squared equals C squared.” He asked if I could solve that. I tried; I failed. He identified the problem. I was missing basic algebra.

    He spent several hours over a couple of days teaching me enough basic algebra to figure things out, and suddenly, I soared! It didn’t make me a math whiz, but I finally *understood*. He’d taken the time to explain WHY.

    If I’d have been taking that course for credit, I would have been top of the class. My lab partner, who was half my age, swears she would never have made it through class without me to help her. I felt like a giant at the end of it.

    Having someone take the time to explain mathematical (or any, frankly) concepts to you in your own “language” really helps. Being told you don’t need to know something, or to just do the work as explained, is shite.

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