Me neither! Not only can I not (at least not easily) count syllables, you could hold a gun to my head and ask me what syllable is the correct one to put emphasis on and I couldn’t answer you. I understand the concept because I know what people are getting at when they exageratedly put the emphasis on the wrong syllable to make a point, but I don’t hear a stress on any particular syllables in most words. I’ve been told it has something to do with the accents I’ve grown up hearing, though.
I’ve mentioned it before here, and people even tried to explain, but I can’t wrap my mind around multiplying by zero. I can do it, obviously, but I’m still haunted by the niggling feeling that it’s wrong that the orginial number has vanished.
People explain it like “imagine that you have five apples, and when you multiply by zero, you give them to me so now you have zero apples.” But you have the apples. They still exist. When we multiply by zero, they cease to be, and that bothers me.
You can buy apples in packs of 5. If you buy 4 packs, you have 4 * 5 = 20 apples. If you buy 7 packs, you have 7 * 5 = 35 apples. And if you buy 0 packs, you have 0 * 5 = 0 apples. Does that make sense?
Records show that the ancient Greeks seemed unsure about the status of zero as a number. They asked themselves, “How can nothing be something?”, leading to philosophical and, by the Medieval period, religious arguments about the nature and existence of zero and the vacuum. The paradoxes of Zeno of Elea depend in large part on the uncertain interpretation of zero.
Anyways, I think the problem here is that you’re being too literal in equating the symbolic manipulation (the math) with real life.
If I said I know that “2+2=4” but I don’t really understand how it could be 4 because it seems like the +plus+ sign just disappeared, then how would you explain it to me? I keep insisting that that I have 2 apples in my left and and 2 apples in my right hand and I add them together (the +plus+ sign) to get 4…but there’s no plus sign floating in the air between my hands in real life… so where is the plus sign??? Think about how to explain that to me and that might give insight into your thinking about “zero”.
I’ve never understood the difference between Anthropology and Sociology. Ok yes, people, cultures and why they are that way. But what is the difference? Just don’t get it.
Theres a lot in this thread that reminds me of what annoyed me in school… Syllables. Granted, I understand what they are and how to determine how many are in a sentence, but what in the world is the point of this knowledge?
Irrational numbers. Again, Understand em, but the definition of irrational number is completely useless as far as I can tell.
In my Astro 101 class I actually went up front to my professor and he did a little demonstration with the make-believe moon and sun. I’m pretty sure I’ve brought this up at Dopefests and people have tried to explain it to me, to no avail. It just doesn’t make sense.
If that’s not ‘‘simple’’ enough, then how about mental math? You know those psych orientation tests where you have to subtract 7 from 100 repeatedly? Nothing makes me feel stupider.
Sounds like you got the easy version. The normal version is that you start by subtracting nine, then eight, then seven, and so on down to one, and then starting over at nine. It’s designed to stress you, not to test how good you are at mental math.
I haven’t seen many uses for irrational numbers by themselves, but they allow for the existence of complex numbers, which are extremely useful in many fields.
For me, high school Chemistry was like a giant brick wall in my up-to-that-point pretty smooth academic path. Math stuff I could usually figure out (with help from my Dad) and eventually get to where I understood why it worked the way it did. Not so with chemistry.
I remember the teacher (who sucked, btw) putting all these letters and numbers up on the board and then he would change them and they would equal each other or something and the whole time I was just like, “Huh? That makes no sense!” My brain just did not want to compute.
I made it through the class, just barely, with again, help from my Dad (Who had a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, oy vey), but the moment the final bell rang I blocked all memory of anything we did in that class and I vowed never to get near chemistry again. Thank goodness I didn’t have any ambitions to be a doctor or anything.
Truly though, my mental math sucks. And while I can do reasonably hard math problems on paper, it takes me twice as long to do them as it takes the average person. I did very well in high school math classes, but I was always the last person to finish exams and probably spent twice as much time on homework.
Oh yes, I can hardly wait for the math portion of the GRE this summer. I’ve done the diagnostic practice tests before (with no studying) and they might as well just print out: YOU SUCK! While I’m reasonably confident I’ll be able to boost my score, I don’t look forward to the study process. I might as well just save myself the trouble and gouge out my eyes ahead of time. Less anticipatory anxiety that way.
Modern astronomy moved beyond direct view telescopes and photographic plates. Now, with radio/infrared/UV/high-energy astronomy and instruments, astronomers need an intimate understanding of light physics. Also, at the great distances that they view, all of the General Relativity and Cosmology mucky-muck is very important.
I will give you some advice: get the Princeton Review (or at least one review book). It’s pricey, but worth it. Download the CD. Do the practice tests on there, but also work all the problems in the book.
Believe me, I did and I did ok. My math was low, but at least it registered on the scale. I can’t remember offhand what it was. The book examples and problems helped immeasurably. Also, you must memorize SOME formulae. Not many, but some… Just learn them–forget about trying to figure out WHY you have to a problem this way and not that way etc, just follow what they say (this is also good advice for the vocab portion. Some of their denotations and connotations are off, IMO, but go by the book–it mimcs the test). Also, do the essay practice; it helps as well.
I carved out about an hour a day to do math–more than that drove me nuts. I studied for about 4 weeks. I hadn’t had ANY math since HS, having taken 4 years of HS math to avoid any undergrad math (I knew I would never keep up), so it was 20 years of very rusty math skills and I did ok. You will, too.
I remember struggling with multiplication as a child. The phrase “6 times 5,” for example, confused me. But the light came on one day when I rearranged it to “6, 5 times.”
I never learned the multiplication tables for 12. 12 x 2 = 24, 12 x 3 = 36, etc. Well I know those, but the higher ones like 12 x 8 I do not know. And I don’t know 8 x 12 either!
Add 4x12 twice. IOW, 4x12=48. 48+48=96. I figured that one out a few years ago.
I also don’t say 6x5. I say 5 sets of 6 to myself and know it instantly. I found this approach really helped #2 son. He doesn’t “get” 6x5 format, either.
Yeah, and I never memorized the multiplication tables for 17. This is another “Don’t worry about it; who gives a shit?” one. You are capable of multiplying 12 by 8 algorithmically, right? Who cares if you’ve got it down by rote?
