For most people, understanding the process of any math beyond a simple calculator are "useless in life. " However, learning the math provides perspective which can be extremely useful.For the average HS grad, calculus and more advanced math will be useless in life. Even if some of the concepts from calculus might be useful for anyone to understand, I see the time requirement to learn it to be too high for the return. Algebra, geometry, and trig all have applications in most people's lives. I would add statistics to the mandatory curriculum. Understanding some basic statistics might help people in detecting bullshit.
Define "really advanced". Mathematics is such an incredibly broad field that it's hard to pin down. It is indeed all logic, and I've found that the more advanced topics are less memorization and grunt work and more about putting puzzles together in your mind. Trying to envision what different topologies "look" like is rewarding and challenging in a different way than trying to remember some obscure rule to integrate the mathematical version of liquid nightmares.IMO trig is probably the most advance that they should go really. Most of the math you learn in school you are very unlikely to need it in real life. Even trig is pushing it, but I'd say it's still a good idea to cover it at least.
The more advance maths should be thought in college and it should apply to whatever program you're in for.
I originally wanted to be an electrician but when I learned how math heavy the course was I kinda skewed away from it and took computer science. Computer science did have math but it was more "basic" than what the electrical course had. I still struggled through most of it, while excelling everyone at programming and other actual computer related stuff. When math gets really advanced it's no longer logic, it's about remembering tons of rules and formulas and I'm just not good at that. Especially if I can't apply it to a real life situation.
Funny thing is electricians don't even need to use all that much math. Yeah there's stuff to consider like power factor and volt/amp/watts etc but that is mostly basic math. It gets more complex if you get into power electronics though. Been reading a book on switch mode power supply design and the math is a real killer.
There's room on the poll for 10 options and topology doesn't really require any other math. There's no reason it couldn't be an "entry point".The key word here is "should". Someone entering engineering school, or someone entering the Marines?
I'd be amazed if a significant fraction of high school graduates today could be said to know anything beyond the most basic concepts of algebra.
How the hell did you even come up with anything beyond basic Calculus? Topology? Are you kidding?
I was going to write a post, but this is basically what it would have been.For the average HS grad, calculus and more advanced math will be useless in life. Even if some of the concepts from calculus might be useful for anyone to understand, I see the time requirement to learn it to be too high for the return. Algebra, geometry, and trig all have applications in most people's lives. I would add statistics to the mandatory curriculum. Understanding some basic statistics might help people in detecting bullshit.
Maybe, maybe not, but the thing you have to understand is that for practically everyone that isn't an exuberant math major, math is bullshit. Most people just do not care about expanding their worldview or learning cool things unless those things are easily grasped or at least tactile. Could wonders such as e^(i*pi)+1=0 spur some of those philistines on toward discovering the value of enlightenment? Probably, but not the way it's being taught literally everywhere that matters. In public schools and accredited universities, math beyond algebra pretty much involves memorizing formulae (and their situational uses) that any monkey could find with half a minute and an internet connection, because if you don't memorize them you'll fail the test that you can't even use thirty year old technology on. There are two legitimate reasons to take a math course these days: 1. your major requires it so you better suck it up, and 2. you want an MA or greater and you need to be able to interpret technical papers.There's room on the poll for 10 options and topology doesn't really require any other math. There's no reason it couldn't be an "entry point".
Pretty much this. I wouldn't mind seeing a practical math course using a small but useful subset of examples from several disciplines, with real world examples, but even that might be overkill.If you're not going into math, engineering, physics or some other science that uses advanced math you'll have learned all the math you need in grammar school provided the school did its job.
I'd like to see people take up through integral calculus, linear algebra, combinatorics, and statistics. I don't really remember what we were studying as kids. It was arithmetic for a really long time and then we slowly worked into algebra, I believe. I feel like they could compress middle school math a bit to add in more topics, but I may be misguided.
For the average HS grad, calculus and more advanced math will be useless in life. Even if some of the concepts from calculus might be useful for anyone to understand, I see the time requirement to learn it to be too high for the return. Algebra, geometry, and trig all have applications in most people's lives. I would add statistics to the mandatory curriculum. Understanding some basic statistics might help people in detecting bullshit.