Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for February 17, 2020

I want to see the work!

Math books were condemned by the Gablers — the couple who vet all of America’s school textbooks — because they apparently teach that there are no absolutes. And “when a student reads in a math book that there are no absolutes, every value he’s been taught is destroyed. And the next thing you know, the student turns to crime and drugs.”

I remember originally reading today’s strip in the newspaper .. I was in my senior year of college, at the time. It got ‘pinned-up’ on many faculty office doors ..

we all have absolutes, are mine the same as yours? (Paraphrased from JC Superstar, but you knew that)

It’s not that hard to picture an algebra formula where the answer is both 17 and 39. Actually a whole set of formuli (or formulas). Think of a parabola on graph and crossing the X axis at 17 and 39. What is X when Y = 0? My last algebra class was about 50 years ago, but maybe someone else can provide the formula.

I might not be remembering right, but isn’t the character on the left in the first panel supposed to be black?

Math is, after all, irrational and imaginary.

I still remember when 1 and 1 equals 0 flummoxed me. Once I got to the 11 equals 3 I was okay.

What is a parabola?

YouTube, short film “Alternative Math”. Worth your time.

42…Somebody had to say it…

Alternative facts.

That math prof later was hired by the Trump Administration to look into climate change.

Grade inflation has gotten worse, now down to the HS level. Last time I looked about 1/2 of incoming college freshmen have to take remedial classes in math and English, before they are allowed to take actual college classes. Most of the students having to take the remedial classes got As in HS

“Teacher, will I ever have to use this stuff in real life?”

“No, dear. Only the smart children.”

—Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

One of the problems I had with teaching was no one was allowed to fail. That was one of several factors that led me to spend less time in the profession than I had originally intended.

University: Where you go to get a usable education, ie Medicine, Engineering, Hard Science, and to a lesser extent Education, or a place to waste your money or your parents money.

“It’s so simple, so very simple, that only a child can do it!”

I never understood the point of math…Then we started studying decimals. I got the point.

1739 – a good year. Treaty of Belgrade brings the Austro-Russian–Turkish War (1735–39) to an end.

I vaguely recall in Japan, the teacher would put just the solution on the blackboard, and the students were judged by how they arrived at said solution.