19.676 the advantages of studying mathematics

               Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 19, No. 676.
       Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
                   www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/
                        www.princeton.edu/humanist/
                     Submit to: humanist_at_princeton.edu

         Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2006 08:15:50 +0000
         From: Michael Hart <hart_at_pglaf.org>
         Subject: Re: 19.673 new on WWW: Ubiquity 7.11

On Wed, 22 Mar 2006, Humanist Discussion Group (by way of Willard
McCarty <willard.mccarty_at_kcl.ac.uk>) wrote:

>ANDERSEN: WHY YOU SHOULD CHOOSE MATH IN HIGH SCHOOL
> An article by Espen Andersen of the Norwegian School of Management
>encourages students to choose math as a major subject in high school -- not
>just in preparation for higher education but because having math up to
>maximum high school level is important in all walks of life. The article has
>already appeared in Aftenposten, a large Norwegian newspaper, and has been
>widely praised in Europe. See
>http://www.acm.org/ubiquity/views/v7i11_math.html

You should take math in high school because it is the only subject in which
a student can visibly and demonstrably defeat the instructor when there are
differences of opinion, simply because you can PROVE you are right. Do not
get me wrong here, not all instructors, even at advanced university levels,
are willing to admit you are right, even when you write a proof out for all
to see and they cannot poke a hole in it.

However, math is the first place you can usually demonstrate instructors in
schools are often wrong, it's just that you can rarely, if ever, win, where
the "soft subject" are concerned, there is too much subjectivity.

As much as instructors tell you they want you to be better at subjects than
they are, they still freak out and get defensive when you do it.

Just look at Einstein for a 100 year old example, and Craig Venter for more
current events. [DNA]

Thanks!!!

Give the world eBooks in 2006!!!

Michael S. Hart
Founder
Project Gutenberg
Received on Fri Mar 24 2006 - 04:50:10 EST