The following is hard to believe but true. Last weekend, I was in line at Walgreens. The older woman in front of me gave the cashier a $20 bill for a $13.54 purchase. The young cashier was completely unable to figure out the correct change. After a couple of failed tries, the older woman tried to teach the cashier how to subtract $13.54 from $20 but that was a failure. She then tried to get the casher to add to $13.54 until the cashier reach $20. When that failed, she helped the cashier add small change and dollars until she got to $6.46.
I don’t think giving everyone a calculator is the solution. Ed _______________________ Ed Angel Founding Director, Art, Research, Technology and Science Laboratory (ARTS Lab) Professor Emeritus of Computer Science, University of New Mexico 1017 Sierra Pinon Santa Fe, NM 87501 505-984-0136 (home) an...@cs.unm.edu <mailto:an...@cs.unm.edu> 505-453-4944 (cell) http://www.cs.unm.edu/~angel > On Aug 7, 2024, at 9:28 PM, Frank Wimberly <wimber...@gmail.com> wrote: > > I'm not sure my 30+ year old daughter knows the times tables. She works for > the Secretary of Public Education. If you ask her about it she will say she > uses calculators and spreadsheets. I think. > > --- > Frank C. Wimberly > 140 Calle Ojo Feliz, > Santa Fe, NM 87505 > > 505 670-9918 > Santa Fe, NM > > On Wed, Aug 7, 2024, 9:12 PM Russell Standish <li...@hpcoders.com.au > <mailto:li...@hpcoders.com.au>> wrote: >> It is a test that you know your 7 or 8 times table. And the definition >> of a prime number (which could be given as part of the question, if >> not the curriculum). >> >> I would expect most 9 or 10 years olds should know their times tables. >> >> Or am I wrong abut kids these days? >> >> On Mon, Jul 22, 2024 at 12:43:54PM -0600, Tom Johnson wrote: >> > Ms. O'Hara: >> > >> > RE your story Sunday, "Does proficiency give full picture?" >> > From your lede: >> > "Pop quiz: What number is both a prime number and a factor or 56"? >> > >> > If I understand correctly, this is a question on an exam given to fourth >> > graders, 9- or 10-year-olds. >> > Could you please point me to some source in the city or state education >> > departments who can tell me what short- or long-term value this question >> > about >> > mathematics -- NOT arithmetic -- has for students that age? >> > >> > We live in a state where it is a rare cashier who can do the mental >> > arithmetic to make change from a $20 bill. Can we first find out if fourth >> > graders can do that before getting into primes and factorials? >> > *-- >> > ============================================ >> > Tom Johnson - t...@jtjohnson.com <mailto:t...@jtjohnson.com> >> > Institute for Analytic Journalism -- Santa Fe, NM USA >> > 505.577.6482(c) 505.473.9646(h) >> > Visit Global Santa Fe >> > ============================================ >> >> > -. --- - / ...- .- .-.. .. -.. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. . >> > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> > Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom >> > https://bit.ly/virtualfriam >> > to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >> > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ >> > archives: 5/2017 thru present >> > https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ >> > 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ >> >> >> -- >> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> Dr Russell Standish Phone 0425 253119 (mobile) >> Principal, High Performance Coders hpco...@hpcoders.com.au >> <mailto:hpco...@hpcoders.com.au> >> http://www.hpcoders.com.au >> <http://www.hpcoders.com.au/> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> >> -. --- - / ...- .- .-.. .. -.. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. . >> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom >> https://bit.ly/virtualfriam >> to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >> FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ >> archives: 5/2017 thru present >> https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ >> 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ > -. --- - / ...- .- .-.. .. -.. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. . > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom > https://bit.ly/virtualfriam > to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > archives: 5/2017 thru present > https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ > 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/
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