Rant Here!

[Chaos he/him]

if there's anything you'll learn in life, it's that people are dumb at math as a general thing. Overall, the population itself is pretty poor at math, because they forget how simple algebra works once outside of a classroom (and for some, inside the classroom as well).

now, if you want debate about real math subjects, i recommend looking into the debates that rage about 0.9999... equaling 1. Those debates are always fun to read

I remember my teacher telling us about that one. That blew my mind.

Of course, now that I am in Advanced Calculus, where we exclusively do calculus proofs, that statement becomes a whole lot clearer. It's easy to show that .99999... is within epsilon of 1, so the limit is certainly 1. Good enough for me. It's imprecise, exactly, to call it 1 (it's the limit that's 1) but from a heuristic standpoint, they are the same.

You can also do the proof with geometric series, which is a neat trick. I did a similar problem which said to use geometric series to express 1.99999... as the quotient of two integers. The answer? 2/1.

Neat, huh? Calculus rocks.

(And now I'm looking up algebraic proofs of the same fact. They are pretty neat, too)

EDIT: Five minutes into this and I cannot deal with the misunderstanding. I've read fun things like "infinity is a concept, not a number," and then there was a person who, in defense of .9999...=1 referenced spirituality and God. I'm not quite sure what that was.

They seriously need some advanced calculus.

Edited April 29, 2011 by Chaos

[CrazyRioter she/her]

math and fun do not belong in the same sentence, unless the words "is not" are between them.

[Chaos he/him]

math and fun do not belong in the same sentence, unless the words "is not" are between them.

Blasphemy

[SOM1else he/him]

CrazyRioter I am stealing that post and using it as my Facebook status

[Rubix he/him]

math and fun do not belong in the same sentence, unless the words "is not" are between them.

Blasphemy

No, the blasphemous part is when you realize that 2+2=5 for exceptionally large values of 2.

I had a monster headache the day my teacher tried to explain that one...

[Eerongal he/him]

I remember my teacher telling us about that one. That blew my mind.

Of course, now that I am in Advanced Calculus, where we exclusively do calculus proofs, that statement becomes a whole lot clearer. It's easy to show that .99999... is within epsilon of 1, so the limit is certainly 1. Good enough for me. It's imprecise, exactly, to call it 1 (it's the limit that's 1) but from a heuristic standpoint, they are the same.

You can also do the proof with geometric series, which is a neat trick. I did a similar problem which said to use geometric series to express 1.99999... as the quotient of two integers. The answer? 2/1.

Neat, huh? Calculus rocks.

(And now I'm looking up algebraic proofs of the same fact. They are pretty neat, too)

EDIT: Five minutes into this and I cannot deal with the misunderstanding. I've read fun things like "infinity is a concept, not a number," and then there was a person who, in defense of .9999...=1 referenced spirituality and God. I'm not quite sure what that was.

They seriously need some advanced calculus.

heh, yeah. I remember first hearing it too. I was pretty much all "you talkin' crazy talk, boy!". Then calculus was all "lol, no."

But yeah, i love reading the huge debates people get into over it.

[Emeralis00 she/her]

The sad part of this conversation is that I was just about to start my Functions, Stats and Trig homework.

[Chaos he/him]

The sad part of this conversation is that I was just about to start my Functions, Stats and Trig homework.

All of this sounds remarkably straightforward.

Want to do my Advanced Calculus or Abstract Algebra final?

No, the blasphemous part is when you realize that 2+2=5 for exceptionally large values of 2.

I had a monster headache the day my teacher tried to explain that one...

Unless I see a proof, I don't believe you

Edited April 29, 2011 by Chaos

[Eerongal he/him]

Unless I see a proof, I don't believe you

Let A = 2, B = 2, and C = 5, D is our unknown,

Let it be known:

2+2 = D

D = A+B

Therefore:

2+2 = D

So therefore logically:

D = Shut up and accept it, chaos

(obviously i kid, i dont believe it either, unless we're fudging rounding )

[SOM1else he/him]

Let A = 2, B = 2, and C = 5, D is our unknown,

Let it be known:

2+2 = D

D = A+B

Therefore:

2+2 = D

So therefore logically:

D = Shut up and accept it, chaos

(obviously i kid, i dont believe it either, unless we're fudging rounding )

I looked it up and I guess the whole thing is a joke about no matter how precise you measure you will always be a little off and you will end up rounding. this says it better than I ever could

The statement is, "2 + 2 = 5 for very large values of 2." It's a joke about rounding and estimating. For instance, suppose you have your calculator set to round all numbers to integers (no decimal places) and the problem you're actually computing is 2.48 + 2.47. The calculator will automatically round, so when you punch 2.48 and ENTER, it will show up on the screen as 2. When you punch in the 2.47 and ENTER, it will also show up on the screen as 2. Then when you add, the sum 4.95 will be rounded to 5. Hence, 2 + 2 = 5 if the value of 2 is large enough.

It's a joke ... but a joke with a somewhat serious point. All measurements in the real world (as opposed to the esoteric whirled of mathematics) are estimates; they're always rounded to something. There's no such thing as absolute precision. So rounding must come into play sometime or other, and the joke about 2 + 2 = 5 if 2 is large enough, is a reminder about the way that estimation errors compound.

[Eerongal he/him]

I looked it up and I guess the whole thing is a joke about no matter how precise you measure you will always be a little off and you will end up rounding. this says it better than I ever could

I still (and always will) stand by my "shut up, chaos" proof.

[Emeralis00 she/her]

All of this sounds remarkably straightforward.

Want to do my Advanced Calculus or Abstract Algebra final?

No thanks.

I was just saying that you were all talking math here and I came here to escape it.

Therefore...

[Chaos he/him]

No thanks.

I was just saying that you were all talking math here and I came here to escape it.

Therefore...

And now you don't even get to sell that textbook back. Silly laser eyes.

[Eerongal he/him]

And now you don't even get to sell that textbook back. Silly laser eyes.

Yeah, for whatever reason no one ever wants to buy a laser seared textbook

[CrazyRioter she/her]

I can't for the life of me imagine why.....

[Silus - Shard of Flame he/him]

I saw the 6/2 as being a fraction.

Also, 17th Shard Webcomic=best idea since Mistborn Musical.

[KChan she/her]

Wait, you saw that? XD

As far as ranting goes, has anyone ever worked on a project that you've stared at so long that nothing looked right anymore, even though to others it seemed perfectly fine? Yeah, that's where I am right now. I have something awesome in store for the site, but I can't launch it yet because it looks so bizarre and ugly to my oversaturated perception. So, sorry about that. Darned weird-looking project.

[Silus - Shard of Flame he/him]

Oooh, is it the new symbols? Those are way cool.

I have you as a buddy on AIM and it showed that as your status for like three months. So, yes, I saw it. XP

Edited May 1, 2011 by Silus - Shard of Flame

[KChan she/her]

Try a couple weeks. And no, it's way cooler than the new symbols. Those are just to tide y'all over. Plus, we kind of needed them anyways.

[Silus - Shard of Flame he/him]

Can't wait, cuz these are awesome!

[KChan she/her]

Thanks! Unfortunately, it's taking longer than I'd like. Hence the rantage. It's worth the wait, though, I promise!

[Chaos he/him]

So, I tutor this girl in high school geometry. Apparently they think this is how you problem solve in math.

Ignore that the second problem isn't written with very precise language (is each shutter 2x-24 wide? That's how it is written, but the picture suggests that is the combined width for both shutters). In fact, ignore the dumb problems entirely--it's high school geometry; this is par for the course for dumb problems. Just look at the first page.

This type of thing drove me insane in high school, and my anger has only increased since then. Is this how some people think you actually solve problems? This is just a feeble attempt to provide students a framework for solving any math problem. It fails, of course, because it's unnecessarily complicated, so any student who looks at this says, "Wow, this is stupid. Why would I ever do it this way?" There's no pedagogical benefit for the students here. Pro tip for teaching: make what you're teaching actually seem important.

And what's with this "verification"? Am I supposed to go through my algebra again, hoping I made a mistake so that section isn't a complete waste of my time? Apparently.

The final flaw (at least, that I feel like ranting about now) is the Accuracy section. The final answer isn't significant by itself--especially in these barely useful problems. It's the methods that are important. That's the great thing about collegiate learning: the answers are in the back. Or its a proof, and the journey is the problem. I guess focusing on the answers is great for engineers, but I don't think it's why we care about math. Math is important because it teaches logic and critical thinking. That's why math should be exciting, and that's why this assignment completely fails in doing anything.

Edited May 12, 2011 by Chaos

[Emeralis00 she/her]

@Chaos

(Your link is broken.)

I really hate when problems are vague, but it annoys me more when it is a problem from my programming class.

I go by the "Unless they say otherwise, I can do it this way" rule, which really annoys my teacher because she has her own interpretation of the problem. Especially When I lacked CRITICAL information, which she had failed to give me because I was a lot more efficient and therefore much farther along than much of the class, to complete the problem.

Also, she should not get surprised when I hand in work that is not equal to the quality of work I handed in before when she doesn't allow me to wait for the rest of the class to catch up from a week behind me and allow me to actually see the power-point presentation which includes the actual material I am working with (She gave me all this before, That is why I am ranting).

EDIT: fixed grammer

Edited May 12, 2011 by Emeralis00

[Chaos he/him]

Huh, it worked for me. Can you see it now?

[Eerongal he/him]

Huh, it worked for me. Can you see it now?

i can get to it.