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Math, a survival skill

3K views 15 replies 9 participants last post by  bugeye 
#1 ·
In discussion about survival skills, I seldom/never see talk about math skills or about manual calculation. Are we already so inculcated (I think that's the right word) into the cult of the electronic world that we have forgotten the work that was done with brains and mechanical calculation devices and log tables?
When I retired, I still kept a slide rule in my desk. A young engineer, who didn't know how to use one, asked why. It still works when the power is out! Just like log tables do. Hmmm
 
#2 ·
Good post Gene.
Math would be needed in a post shtf world. Without it, we would regress to the point of carrying a club and dragging our women by the hair. :)
 
#3 ·
Good point Gene.

It's already to the point you can't buy anything (even with cash) if the power goes out. Cash register won't open without electric, and even if the clerk did get it open he or she wouldn't know how to make change!

Quickest way to totally disrupt this country would be to disrupt the power grid for an extended length of time. And the scary part is it wouldn't take much to do it.
 
#5 ·
That's true, I first learned to make change on my news paper route in the late '50s. Later I sometimes worked for an auctioneer and in an auto parts kiosk no cash register either place, making change was essential.
The one mechanical device I never learned to use was the abacas. I suspect it would be helpful running a store, if you didn't have the arithmetic skills to ad up a list of purchases. Maybe Russia, China, and North Korea won't do an air blast to kill our grid.
 
#6 ·
Many years ago when I was clerking in a large sporting goods couple of guys were trying to figure out a answer to a problem and they were adding multiplying and several other things and could not get the right answer I used tape measure logic and put down the answer and one guy looked at me kind funny and said you just broke every rule there are in mathematics I said well is my answer correct he said well yes, so I said what is the problem. When I clerked in the store we added every thing up on a brown paper bag, added the tax, put the products in the bag, took the money, rang up the sale, gave the customer his change by counting it back said thanks please call again. Today they grab the receipt look to see what the reg. says to give back dumps it in your hand and starts the next person in line.

Deaconllb
 
#9 ·
I am a retired mechanical engineer and for several years have been doing some substitute teaching in middle and high schools. For 9 years here in Iowa we had a rifle season for antlerless deer for population control so I got to do a lot of long range hunting and had very good "luck". My 40 longest shots averaged over 600 yards. My reason for success wasn't a lot of long range practice but instead applying math when selecting equipment and applying math when figuring windage and interpolating bullet drop. Also, I did have a slide rule but gave it to a high school engineering teacher as some of his students who saw it when I substituted for him were fascinated by it. And I've run into a number of middle school students who had to ask me "What time is it?" as they could not tell time on the classroom clock with hands on it rather than a numerical display. And now, as I think it was when I was in high school, a lot of good math students are not so good at applying math to solve practical problems. And finally, I've run into a lot of machinists, mechanics and other technical workers who I thought would have made better engineers than a number of the engineers I've worked with.
 
#10 ·
I guess Medicare will have to modify their annual "wellness" test - you know, the one where you have to draw the face of a clock and show a given time!!! Maybe when these young people get old they can have them draw a picture of a cell phone with a digital time on the screen. Of course by then there probably won't be any pens or pencils, or anyone left who knows how to use them!
 
#11 ·
Basic computation skills are lacking so much that even the brightest students are not able to be successful in upper level math courses now! I teach high school and college mathematics and have been seeing the decline for years. However, we finally have a reliable assessment in our school to show the students’ actual abilities and levels. In grades 8-12 we had ZERO students at grade level in mathematics!
The average was around FOUR YEARS behind with some as many as EIGHT!

Where does it begin? The students furthest behind didnt even know their ADDITION facts, like which pairs of numbers add up to 10!
The next big stumbling block was MULTIPLICATION facts.
If students had those mastered, the next issue was FRACTIONS!
Ive always used fractions as a true indicator of a students math abilities. If they can do fractions, chances are they can do upper level math. If they cant do fractions we have to keep digging for the true cause, its now showing up to be multiplication or even addition!!!
 
#15 ·
The 90’s are over TWO DECADES ago! We’ve had No Child Left Behind and Common Core programs since then degrading our elementary and middle school programs. That means those students have now reached the high school and college levels.

Part of the issue is the fact too many people that are “afraid of” and/or “don’t understand” their math facts or fractions are now teaching these children. So whats their solution, hand them a calculator, they cam get the answers that way. Then they are doomed when they have to do a polynomial fraction problem in Algebra II.

Not to mention that soon, high school graduates will not be able to read historic documents that are in cursive.
If the future population can’t read it, the politicians and media will TELL them what it says and means! :eek:
 
#13 ·
Not to mention that soon, high school graduates will not be able to read historic documents that are in cursive.
 
#14 ·
Once years ago stopped in a small store in town that sold gas as well as pop and other things I picked up a 1.00 Pepsi and told the girl I also wonted 5.00 in gas she said thanks rang up the sale and said that will be 7.85 I said that is not right should be 6.10 with tax on the drink she said well the register says 7.85 so that is what you must pay, had to call the manager to get her straighten out

Deaconllb
 
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