Mathematics standard
Sir,—“Maths teaching comes under fire,” says the headline on October 9. I agree that the teaching of mathematics could be better, but I put mathematics “under fire” as being often ridiculous and absurd. I recall a problem in arithmetic: If one man takes one hour to dig a hole of one cubic metre, how long will four men take? The following information is usually, missing: one man has a hangover; one man is recovering from his kids being sick all night; one man has a broken shovel; one man has the ’flu. Now work out the answer! Algebra has never solved the unknown in my life, or in most people’s lives. Will this person make a good marriage partner? How to raise children without raising neurotics or psychopaths? Where does money come from? Of the thousands forced through trigonometry, how many have since measured the height of a flagpole by the distance and angle of one’s armpit to the ground?—Yours, etc.,
KATE GLENDORRAN October 13, 1986.
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Press, 15 October 1986, Page 20
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168Mathematics standard Press, 15 October 1986, Page 20
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