Remembering math?

Dario D. · Aug 2, 2009

I'm essentially just trying to figure out roughly how much math people remember after they've left school behind....And please don't shy away from voting if you fear your vote will be for an option that's too "pathetic" or something. (if everyone does that, the purpose of this poll is ruined) Remember that this is completely anonymous, and you don't have to post afterward to say, "Hey, I voted for the lowest option!" Not that anyone's judging, either. (or if they are, this isn't a welcome place for them)

Puma · Aug 2, 2009

I think your poll is a bit of a slap in the face and - there are also some hints you aren't quite as savvy as you think you are, i.e., can't remember how to carry (and you missed borrow) - pretty sure kids (who are now over 30) have been taught re-grouping.

And, can you tell me why, for the majority of the population, algebra is worth a hill of beans? When does a person who's not in a mathematical profession need to solve an equation for an unknown? Geometry has a few more practical applications.

I think a more interesting (and not so insulting) poll would have been how many people do their own taxes. Or, if you had stated it as how much and what level math people use in their lives now that they're past school.

And no, I didn't vote in your poll. I see no useful purpose in it as stated. And I do use math on an almost daily basis. I think you need to step back and ask yourself what your motives are in putting up a poll like this (and were you the same one with the fat people question not too long ago?) It sounds to me like you need some lessons in tact and diplomacy and true values. Puma

StephanieFox · Aug 2, 2009

I don't do my own taxes. I don't do my own anything to do with math. I am able to do multiplication and division, but I don't even know what grouping is. I'm from the era BEFORE calculators. In fact, a calculator was one of my graduation from college gifts (the other was a VW) back when they were expensive and almost magical.

I think this was a perfectly reasonable and interesting question. I always hated math and numbers, even as a kid. At age five, I had the vocabulary and verbal skills of a 10 year old, but my math ability never advanced beyond algebra and geometry and once over my requirements for those, I forgot everything. I'll bet there are other writers who are the same.

YAwriter72 · Aug 2, 2009

x's and y's have completely left my head. They have been replaced with faeries and demons, hehe.

And I do my own taxes every year.

Ms Hollands · Aug 2, 2009

I have major problems with long division (Excel is king), but I remember all sorts of more complicated things from studying maths during my computer science degree.

I think what you remember depends largely on what you use regularly. When I worked in a convenience store to pay for my degrees, I became amazingly fast at adding and subtracting, but back to normal speed a few years later.

WendyNYC · Aug 2, 2009

I might be a little rusty, but I think I wouldn't have too much trouble with Algebra and Geometry. All the other stuff I can do no problem. I can (pretty much) help my daughter when she's stuck with her homework, for the time being, and they do very basic Algebra and Geometry, and have covered addition/subtraction/multiplication/division. Regrouping makes more logical sense than carrying.

Calc and up, though, forget about it.

ETA: Oh, and I don't do my own taxes, but I used to.

johnnysannie · Aug 2, 2009

Uh, being over 30 doesn't mean that you suffer from memory loss. I use math daily - from balancing the checkbook and paying bills to many other things. What math do I remember? All the math I learned how to do which in my case would be addition, subtraction, multiplication, long division, algebra, and so forth.

Not only do I use it, I on occasion teach it in school and help my kids with homework (high school age and under).

Until the past three years, I always did my own taxes but now I use software because with two working incomes and writing incomes, it became increasingly complex but I could still do it if necessary.

RJK · Aug 2, 2009

Does this poll have a purpose? If you are attempting to obtain a sample of the general public, this forum is not the place to look. The people inhabiting this forum are, for the most part, literary/creative minded, rather than math/logic minded. They do much of their processing with the right half of their brains, the creative side. People who work with math on a daily basis are using the left side of their brains, almost exclusively.

Dommo · Aug 2, 2009

That's not necessarily true. A lot of good writers are of the scientific minded. Heck, look at guys like Heinlein and Asimov. I can assure you both of those guys knew what an integral was, or what a differential equation was.

Being "literary/creative" is definitely not a reason to be math illiterate. At the very least I think every adult should be able to do basic algebra, basic geometry, fractions, and arithmetic. I think it's an interesting thing to poll, because I see A LOT of bad writing when it pertains to statistics and mathematics that go over the heads of writers(often times journalists/editors). Being able to ballpark out the math abilities of writers is actually some research that could be valuable.

jennontheisland · Aug 2, 2009

I cant' decide how to vote. I'm over 30, starting school in a month (including calculus), but I just did a physics refresher course over the spring/summer.

I've done precalculus, and I remember some of the algebra and geometry from high school. I can do long division in my head. Sometimes.

And I've done my own taxes since I was 14.

Kathie Freeman · Aug 2, 2009

My Goodness, Puma, get over yourself. I am WAY over 30, took all kinds of math classes in high school, got all A's and B's, but most of it is gone now. Like they say, use it or lose it. I sold my old slide rule on Ebay a couple of years ago 'cause I totally forgot how to use it, and anyway a calculator is so much easier. And what the heck is "re-grouping"? I can still do basic algebra, can calculate a hypoteneuse, but that's about it. Oh, and yes, I do my own taxes.

Summonere · Aug 2, 2009

I occasionally dip into geometry and algebra and whip out a physics formula or two, but that's about it. Never studied calculus, despite two helpings of said physics. Guess it wasn't needed for that, and it certainly wasn't for needed for my brace of liberal arts degrees. I have read Gödel's proof, though, from which I spin you this mathy riddle – Your question contradicts itself! – Points to anyone who can tell me what I mean without looking it up (this is a two-part question).

I do my own taxes. Sometimes the IRS agrees with my results.

P.S. As to diagramming sentences, I can say for a fact I've never done that in my adult life, and I don't want to.

Linda Adams · Aug 2, 2009

I never had calculus or geometry--it was not required in the school system I went to, nor was it required in college. Probably a good thing since I barely passed algebra, and that was when I was working hard trying to learn it. The truth is that when I walked out of that algebra class I wouldn't have been able to use it. I just couldn't wrap myself around the logic, especially when I worked out the answers, checked the back of the book to see they were right, and then the teacher graded me wrong because I'd gotten the formula wrong--but never bothered to explain what was wrong.

My father, who is a physics major with a strong math and programming background, said that the schools didn't teach math right. Instead, they were making it harder to learn. He always commented that math was just another language.

Basic math I do still use. Maybe not daily, but certainly weekly. When I go to the grocery store, I start adding up the cost of everything so I can stay within budget.

Dario D. · Aug 2, 2009

Thanks for the replies so far.

As for Puma:

I think your poll is a bit of a slap in the face

You might want to re-read it. I never intend to slap anybody in the face.

I think a more interesting (and not so insulting) poll would have been how many people do their own taxes.

Uhh, bear in mind that I'm doing research on THIS (remembering math). Why do you think I'd want to ask about other topics?

semilargeintestine · Aug 2, 2009

I'm not quite 30 yet, but I can still do advanced calc. It helps that I was a math major in a former life.

Puma · Aug 2, 2009

However, Dario - if you look at your original post, you don't say anywhere in it that you're doing research - "I'm just trying to figure out" is something totally different and comes across as you doing it just for the fun of it. The way you word things makes a big difference in the type of response you'll get. Give people a better idea why you're doing something / asking particular questions, i.e. are you asking because in this computer/calculator age people don't have to do math in their heads or on paper anymore? And, think your poll through a little more - differentiating addition from subtraction but not algebra from geometry is not going to give you accurate results. Additionally, when I went to school there was no such thing as pre-algebra and calculus was only taught at the college level. Define and establish your parameters a bit better and I think you'll get much more valid results - for your research. Puma

Chase · Aug 2, 2009

I'm over twice thirty, going for three times thirty. Until I retired from teaching (English, not math) I used algebra almost every day to figure percentages and grades. As a shooting competitor, I use higher math to plot loads and figure trajectories. As a beekeeper, algebra is your buddy to closely estimate hive population and placement for optimum pollination.

I've constantly thanked my math instructors when I can give students the grade they truly earned, grant myself a decided competitive and hunting edge, and farm bees in an intelligent and profitable manner.

~*Kate*~ · Aug 2, 2009

I'm 29 1/2 but I rounded up and voted anyway.

Cranky · Aug 2, 2009

Before I started going back to school, the most I remembered of math was very basic algebra. I'm still at that point. Most of the algebra I am (re)learning is functionally useless to me...most of the problems I need to solve that they create algebraic expressions for can be solved with simple addition or subtraction.

I never learned maths higher than geometry and intermediate algebra to begin with, however. ETA: And I'm 33, FWIW.

Fenika · Aug 2, 2009

I'm not quite 30, but I could currently do a little basic calc with a quick refresher (I think. It's in there somewhere. *shakes brain*)

I do algebra pretty regularly I'm afraid to say, but mostly basic formulas.

For another data point: My mom helped me with my homework when I was in HS. The algebra she was pretty good at (Engineering major soon turned SAHM). Advanced algebra made her as confused as I was so she'd have to look in her book and we'd work through it together. (Eventually I'd pull it together and get As on my tests). Once I got to calc though she soon totally abandoned me and I suffered through alone. So put her down for algebra with a hint of calculus as well

smcc360 · Aug 2, 2009

'Math'? Is that the thing my calculator does?

MattW · Aug 2, 2009

~*Kate*~ said:
I'm 29 1/2 but I rounded up and voted anyway.

That's proper whole number rounding technique - always round to nearest even number.

MattW · Aug 2, 2009

Calculus was one of those subjects that is use it or lose it.

Algebra can be too, but the general principles I apply all the time solving for simple x's and y's, and having it ingrained as a building block for additional 7-10 years of math/science. Much of it becomes second nature as addition and subtraction did with repetition.

Calculus never got the same repetition with me, and I can't do much of it anymore. Basic integrals and derivatives, sure, but I have no need to.

Trigonometry is another story - I have no clue how I've been able to retain all of those rules and equations...

Ruth2 · Aug 2, 2009

I was lousy at algebra, have the mathematical equivalent of dyslexia and haven't done my own taxes ever. Geometry's somewhat better because I can visualize it. I can also figure a tip in nothing flat.

ResearchGuy · Aug 2, 2009

Hmmm. Dunno what I can do. I seldom need more than basic arithmetic or some very simple algebra now. Once in a while (every few years) I do some reading in abstract algebra or number theory. When I was writing about regional social and economic statistics and budget issues I set up humongous spreadsheets in Excel to manage the numbers and produce graphs and tables. That might not be math per se, but requires a grasp of how the numbers interrelate.

My last math course was second semester of college calculus, more than 40 years ago. I never needed calculus after that -- just some elementary statistics.

I did not find the questionnaire to be something likely to produce useful information.

--Ken

Remembering math?

People over 30, what's the highest math you remember (and can actually DO)?

I'm not over 30 (or I am, but I'm still in school, so I shouldn't vote).

-

Calculus+

Algebra/Geometry

Pre Algebra

Long Division/Multiplication/etc

Subtraction (can't remember how to carry exactly)

Addition

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