Seriously, are people THAT BAD at math?

[dighn]

Originally posted by: Marshallj

Originally posted by: dighn

What surprises me more is how many people cannot differentiate between "your" and "you're", "know" and "no", etc. This is simple grammar, and people are clueless when it comes to the written word.

I would agree with you. I don't capitalize all the time, nor use correct punctuation, but simple grammar and spelling isn't that hard.

i believe most people who mess up things like "your you're" incorrect actually know the difference.[/quote]

If they knew the difference, then why would they willingly misspell a word? Wouldn't it be just as easy to spell it correctly?[/quote]

i don't know. but sometimes i use "your" in place of "you're" for comical effects or to fit in.

 

[Kadarin]

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
I don't know about math skills, but the level of reasoning I see is here pretty pathetic. It seems very few people examine their assumptions or have unlearned all the spew they've been taught. Few people seem to understand that they don't really know anything.

The trouble with you, Moonbeam, is that you successfully unlearned all the spew you were taught, but never learned anything to replace it..

 

[Kadarin]

Originally posted by: TheEvil1
If you take the graph of 1/x and revolve it around the x axis, the solid that it makes with a base at any X>1 and the tip extending into infinity has a finite volume and an infinite surface area. You could fill it with water but never paint it.

Sure you could, it's just a matter of perspective. Paint's a liquid when it's wet, so fill it with paint.

 

[her209]

You guys have it all wrong, its the area under the curve.

 

[human2k]

Originally posted by: Atlantean
Yes people are stupid.

 

[Evadman]

Want to watch someone have an aneurysm? Give a clerk at McDonalds a $2 bill

 

[Banana]

Originally posted by: Astaroth33

Originally posted by: TheEvil1
If you take the graph of 1/x and revolve it around the x axis, the solid that it makes with a base at any X>1 and the tip extending into infinity has a finite volume and an infinite surface area. You could fill it with water but never paint it.

Sure you could, it's just a matter of perspective. Paint's a liquid when it's wet, so fill it with paint.

THAT is thinking outside the box--Genius!

What scares me are the people who don't value the liberal arts. They graduate with stellar grades in maths, sciences, etc, but leave college unenlightened. Part of the blame lies with the universities who de-emphasize literature, history, etc.
:evil:

 

[Moonbeam]

Not so astaroth, you are empty, but I am full of nothing.

 

[Scarpozzi]

That just goes to show....there are 3 kinds of people in the world...those who are good at math and those who aren't.

 

[OulOat]

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
I don't know about math skills, but the level of reasoning I see is here pretty pathetic. It seems very few people examine their assumptions or have unlearned all the spew they've been taught. Few people seem to understand that they don't really know anything.

I agree with whatever Moonbeam just said about himself.

 

[stormbv]

Numbers are bad. Words are good.

 

[Indolent]

Originally posted by: 1YellowPeril

Originally posted by: Astaroth33

Originally posted by: TheEvil1
If you take the graph of 1/x and revolve it around the x axis, the solid that it makes with a base at any X>1 and the tip extending into infinity has a finite volume and an infinite surface area. You could fill it with water but never paint it.

Sure you could, it's just a matter of perspective. Paint's a liquid when it's wet, so fill it with paint.

THAT is thinking outside the box--Genius!

What scares me are the people who don't value the liberal arts. They graduate with stellar grades in maths, sciences, etc, but leave college unenlightened. Part of the blame lies with the universities who de-emphasize literature, history, etc.
:evil:

Many people don't see the point of literature or history, just like many people don't see the point of algebra or geometry. Nothing to be "scared" about.

 

[Angrymarshmello]

It's not that people are bad at math. It's that they're lazy. "Please send me links so I can write my paper". "I have some questions I'm too lazy to look up on google so I'll ask here".

 

[tweakmm]

I'll give you three guesses

 

[Kadarin]

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
Not so astaroth, you are empty, but I am full of nothing.

I like that..

 

[vi edit]

In my 4 years out of college, the only sort of "math" that I've ever had to use that couldn't be solved by a calculator was simple ratios. Polar cooridinates, statistics, bell curves, imaginary numbers, volumes, ect all that has had zero impact in my normal day to day duties as an "IT Guy".

Meh.

 

[element]

Originally posted by: Evadman
Want to watch someone have an aneurysm? Give a clerk at McDonalds a $2 bill

lol that's mean, anybody with that much grease flowing through their brain's veins is likely to suffer permanent damage.

 

[element]

Originally posted by: Scarpozzi
That just goes to show....there are 3 kinds of people in the world...those who are good at math and those who aren't.

That's 10 people, not 11.

 

[Cyberian]

Originally posted by: Evadman
Want to watch someone have an aneurysm? Give a clerk at McDonalds a $2 bill

Or give them $21 for your total order of $10.75 = instant blank stare.

 

[Descartes]

Why some people go through their entire academic lives and don't learn the basics of some things is beyond me, but who am I to judge. I'm completely turned off by political discussions, so perhaps political pundits might call me ignorant.

Meh...

 

[stonecold3169]

next time you feel like being a dink, go to a copy shop that offers self serve copies, like Kinkos or Officemax. make some copies, or make a lot of copies to make it worth doing... Then don't write down the number of copies you make. Go to the register to pay, and tell them that you didn't count your copies, but, luckily, you know a nice way to find it out.

Procede to tell the person that the only way you know of to find the number of copies you made is to find the density of the paper by using the # of the paper, and then taking the triple integral of the rectangle of copies you've made. I watched a friend do this, and the great thing is that the kinkos copier started frantically doing it, even though he had a scale next to him and could have weighed out how many sheets were in a gram, then weighed the whole stack and multiplied by the amount of sheets in a gram. The problem isn't with people not knowing math, but people not having the common sense to know when or when not to use it

 

[vi edit]

I watched a friend do this, and the great thing is that the kinkos copier started frantically doing it, even though he had a scale next to him and could have weighed out how many sheets were in a gram, then weighed the whole stack and multiplied by the amount of sheets in a gram

Wouldn't the ink coverage on the paper throw things off?

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: stonecold3169
next time you feel like being a dink, go to a copy shop that offers self serve copies, like Kinkos or Officemax. make some copies, or make a lot of copies to make it worth doing... Then don't write down the number of copies you make. Go to the register to pay, and tell them that you didn't count your copies, but, luckily, you know a nice way to find it out.

Procede to tell the person that the only way you know of to find the number of copies you made is to find the density of the paper by using the # of the paper, and then taking the triple integral of the rectangle of copies you've made. I watched a friend do this, and the great thing is that the kinkos copier started frantically doing it, even though he had a scale next to him and could have weighed out how many sheets were in a gram, then weighed the whole stack and multiplied by the amount of sheets in a gram. The problem isn't with people not knowing math, but people not having the common sense to know when or when not to use it

I'm willing to bet that 98% of those you encounter at service counters haven't the slightest idea what a triple integral is.

 

[ed21x]

Originally posted by: Tyler
We've got all these threads on math lately with people asking questions on subjects that I thought people were supposed to learn in junior high school.

Stuff like how to compute sales tax, or if -1=-x and 1=x are equivelant. And they're not all by the same person, either, there's at least 3 different people psoting these threads.

I mean, I don't know what to say... how can you not be able to figure out sales tax?

well, we have some crazy people here that think .9999... = 1

 

[element]

Originally posted by: vi_edit

I watched a friend do this, and the great thing is that the kinkos copier started frantically doing it, even though he had a scale next to him and could have weighed out how many sheets were in a gram, then weighed the whole stack and multiplied by the amount of sheets in a gram

Wouldn't the ink coverage on the paper throw things off?

Not as much as my finger on the scale to screw over the little dink.