Why Math Always Counts<\/p>\n
Respect\u00a0\u00a0 Responsibility\u00a0\u00a0 Readiness<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The following article was published in the Los Angeles Times\u00a0\u00a0 12\/20\/2004<\/p>\n Why Math Always Counts<\/p>\n By Arthur Michelson<\/p>\n American middle school students don\u2019t care that they\u2019re worse at math than their counterparts in Hong Kong or Finland. \u201cI don\u2019t need it,\u201d my students say. \u201cI\u2019m gonna be a basketball star.\u201d Or a beautician, or a car mechanic, or a singer. It can open our minds to logic and beauty<\/strong><\/p>\n * If a fair coin is tossed and eight heads come up in a row, most adults would gamble that the next toss would come up tails. But a coin has no memory. There is always a 50-50 chance. See you at the casino? yields a relationship known as the Golden Ratio, which often shows up in nature and art. It\u2019s the mathematical underpinning of what we consider beautiful. You\u2019ll find it in the design of the Parthenon and the Mona Lisa, as well as in human proportion; for instance, in the size of the hand compared to the forearm and the forearm to the entire arm. Stephen Hawking\u2019s editor warned him that for every mathematical formula he wrote in a book he would lose a big part of his audience. Yet more than a little is lost by dumbing things down. Arthur Michelson teaches at the Beechwood School in Menlo Park, California.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Why Math Always Counts Respect\u00a0\u00a0 Responsibility\u00a0\u00a0 Readiness The following article was published in the Los Angeles Times\u00a0\u00a0 12\/20\/2004 Why Math Always Counts By Arthur Michelson American middle school students don\u2019t care that they\u2019re worse at math than their counterparts in Hong Kong or Finland. \u201cI don\u2019t need it,\u201d my students say. \u201cI\u2019m gonna be … Continue reading Why Math Always Counts By Arthur Michelson<\/span>
\nIt\u2019s hard to get much of a rise out of adults over the fact, released earlier this year, that the United States ranked 28th out of 41 countries whose middle school students\u2019 math skills were tested by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. So what if we tied with Latvia, while nations like Japan and South Korea leave us in the dust? After all, when was the last time you used algebra?
\nBut math is not just about computing quadratic equations, knowing geometric proofs or balancing a check book. And it\u2019s not just about training Americans to become scientists.
\nIt has implicit value. It is about discipline, precision, thorough-
\nness and meticulous analysis. It helps you see patterns, develops your logic skills, teaches you to concentrate and to separate truth from falsehood. These are abilities that distinguish successful people.
\nMath helps you make wise financial decisions, but also informs you so you can avoid false claims for advertisers, politicians and others. It helps you determine risk. Some examples.<\/p>\n
\n* If you have no sense of big numbers, you evaluate the consequences of how government spends your money. Why should we worry? Let our kids deal with it…
\n* Enormous amounts of money are spent on quack medicine. Many people will reject sound scientific studies on drugs or nutrition if the results don\u2019t fit their preconceived notions, yet they might leap to action after reading news stories on the results of small, inconclusive or poorly run studies.
\n* After an airplane crash, studies show that people are more likely to drive than take a plane despite the fact that they are much more likely to be killed or injured while driving. Planes are not more likely to crash because another recently did. In fact, the most dangerous time to drive is probably right after a plane crash because so many more people are on the road.
\nThe precision of math, like poetry, gets to the heart of things. It can increase our awareness.
\nConsider the Fibonacci series, in which each number is the sum of the preceding two.(0,1,1,3,5,3,13……..). Comparing each successive pair<\/p>\n
\nIt is not possible to really understand science and the scientific method without understanding math. A rainbow is even more beautiful and amazing when we understand it. So is a lightning bolt, an ant, or ourselves.
\nMath gives us a powerful tool to understand our universe. I don\u2019t wish to overstate. Poetry, music, literature and the fine and performing arts are always gateways to beauty. Nothing we study is a waste. But the precision of math helps refine how we think in a very special way.
\nHow do we revitalize the learning of math? I don\u2019t have the big answer. I teach middle school and try to find an answer one child at a time. When I can get one to say, \u201dWow, that\u2019s tight.\u201d I feel the joy of a small victory.<\/p>\n