Comment on Close enough for government work
webghost0101@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks agoA teacher mentioned i had a skill for calculated guesses and my first though was “Why aren’t you teaching me to hone the skills i am good at rather then forcing me to do it in a way i have an handicap (memory).
NeptuneOrbit@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Because actually learning will do both. Learning only calculated guesses will only really teach you how to deal with manufactured scenarios. I won’t really even serve you much past high school.
webghost0101@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
I have to disagree. Being able to obtain close enough accurate results without needing to calculate or measure is incredibly useful on a daily basis.
Ever had to pick the right size drill or screwdriver bit out of a mix? Thats the kind of skill this most often relates to.
combined with real measurement it becomes intuitive knowledge to verify my own measurements.
In school i just had to do extra work to be able to write down a formula. I agree thats not useful but i was still practicing the same algebra to do so.
Trying to remember the formulas from my head turned out to be literally impossible for me. I got a diagnosis post education and i may explain why i developed this ability from need to make up for my disability.
NeptuneOrbit@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Sure.
But if their isn’t some human author to your problem, student logic will be way less helpful than logic actually honed by learning how to learn.
webghost0101@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
What do you mean with a human author? Sorry you actually lost me on this.
I rely on the same mathematical logic but the calculation is done intuitive, like a gut feeling. Thats not the “reverse engineering of formulas” i talked about, that i just did because school expected it of me. But it relies on this very useful ability.
The example i gave that does best illustrate it is seeing the sizes of things without having to check labels, markings or actually measure. Especially useful for domestic jobs Like hanging up a mirror on the wall. Or when visiting stores like an ikea.
Another term I believe for it is eyeballing it. But i cant see how you think it isn’t useful outside of schools. (Pun intended)
I have been outside school for more than 10 years. I use all kinds of mathematical principles on a day to day basis (part of how i perceive the world) but solutions requiring specific formulas pretty much never happens and when it very rarely does happen (i think i used Pythagorean once 2 years ago), i just google it.
sukhmel@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
What you provide as an example isn’t quite what is called an educated guess, more like the ability to subitize and estimate well. Those skills are more likely to be improved only with experience and the teacher would not be able to help hone them really.
With what you said about visualizing and feeling what an answer could be, I would expect there to be some form of synergy between your ability to grasp the formulae and the mentioned ability to estimate things. With this the teacher could have helped by teaching you properties and basics about different formulae, but the problem with that approach is that you will at some point stumble upon a limitation of what can be guessed and will likely not know about it.
webghost0101@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
Actually that is sort of what happend in the end of my school career
I always understood the underlaying logic so i never needed to learn that. But then sin cos and tan happend and for some reason i don’t understand them.
I have been able to memorize their formulas on multiple occasions but i start mixing them up in less then a minute every time, i swear its actually ridiculous how inept i am at memorizing and not mixing stuff up even with mnemonics.
I had to hand in an exam with half the pages unanswered.
Yesterday i learned more about algebraic topology out of curiosity, i also dabble with statistical analysis and frequently use all kinds of math in programming.
Just a minute ago i looked for a simple explanation what sin cos tan are about and its stil the same, and i know its supposedlyJust hightail school level but i don’t understand what they are for at all it makes me nervous its my Achilles’ heel of math.