College students are still struggling with basic math. Professors blame the pandemic
ArtieShaw @ ArtieShaw @kbin.social Posts 1Comments 169Joined 2 yr. ago

ArtieShaw @ ArtieShaw @kbin.social
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AITA: A new Subspace Community
Let's try with a real life (but slightly simplified) math example taken from my mostly innumerate coworkers.
Problem:
2.5 + 2.5 = ?
Many will answer "5"
My coworkers won't type 4 extra keystrokes into their calculator, so they follow the written rounding rules (which shouldn't apply here) and key in 3 + 3 = 6. Six. It's six every time.
And they will argue it to the fucking death.
This is the depth of the problem. They have the tools to avoid doing math "in their head" and use their amazing modern tools but no conceptual understanding of the fundamental principles that will bring them from "2.5 is the same as 3 because I learned rounding!" to "there's a fundamental difference between 2.5 and 3 if you're trying to add them." They just never came to that breakthrough understanding because no one taught them.