Nebraska Bluegrass Hall of Fame and other areas of interest ...
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Math and Bluegrass
Any math reference I put on FaceBook seems to draw a lot of protest. So I may add some simple math lessons here. To begin with, does this collection of symbolic expressions cause you a bad reaction:
Mathematics has been called "a science of patterns." Many of these patterns are accessible to students without a lot of formal mathematical training, but they are not usually brought out in today's "real-world"- oriented curriculum.
The mathematician Andrew Gleason used the expression "the ladder of abstraction" to explain, in part, the nature of mathematics.
As we move up the ladder of abstraction, the patterns become more clear; well, they should, but students are often lost in The Cloud of Unknowing.
So, being able to look calmly at one of the first steps of abstraction -- replacing individual numbers with the symbol "x" -- is essential.
1 comment:
Mathematics has been called "a science of patterns." Many of these patterns are accessible to students without a lot of formal mathematical training, but they are not usually brought out in today's "real-world"- oriented curriculum.
The mathematician Andrew Gleason used the expression "the ladder of abstraction" to explain, in part, the nature of mathematics.
As we move up the ladder of abstraction, the patterns become more clear; well, they should, but students are often lost in The Cloud of Unknowing.
So, being able to look calmly at one of the first steps of abstraction -- replacing individual numbers with the symbol "x" -- is essential.
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