Fractions in the Fast Lane - A Response

This isn't something I like to admit, but I do use math in my daily life, or at least somewhat daily. To put it into a fraction. I use fractions outside of school 3/7 days of the week at the least. These 3 days of the week are the days that I go to the gym. Each day I go I know exactly how many reps of each exercise I do, and for most of them, I do 25 reps set out over 5 sets. So, using fractions I know how many more reps I need to do in order to complete my workout. Say I do one rep, that means I am 1/25th finished with doing that exercise. When I do the first part of a rep like in a squat where you descend, that descent would count as 1/50th of my workout, and the ascent would make it 1/25th of my workout.

Why the United States is no longer mathematically savvy

              When I was in elementary school, the teachers would always tell us the same thing when we would complain about doing our math problems. They would always say that when we were older, we wouldn’t be carrying a calculator with us everywhere and that we needed to know how to do this equation or problem. Little did they know, that is exactly the case now. Nowadays, almost every person you see walking down the street has the ability to do mathematical equations on their phone, with minimal thinking involved. I think that since it is so convenient to use your smartphone to do almost all your mathematical operations that you need to do in your everyday life, we have become less dependent on our minds for to solve them. I think that this is the root of our lack of mathematical savvy. Our minds aren’t being as engaged as much as they used to before everyone had a calculator in their pocket.

            Another interesting tool I have found that I believe contributes to this is a site called Wolfram Alpha. Their site describes their goal as to “make all systematic knowledge immediately computable and accessible to everyone.” Basically this site does problems for you. You heard that right. And its free. Its incredible the kind of knowledge that we have literally at our fingertips 24/7. 

Seth

In response to Ms. Mariner's post

http://jammnpeaches.blogspot.com/

I think that this post is about trying different things and more importantly, get out of your comfort zone by listening to the advice of others. The Peonies represent something you are familiar with. The roses are something that you don’t have much experience with, or don’t like doing. What is important is that you listened to your neighbor and tried something new, even though you might not have enjoyed it at first. But it grew on you and soon enough you began to enjoy the roses and the peaches. After a while, you can sit back and look on the final result and be glad that you took that advice and acted on it. I think that this is relevant to math class because if we don’t come to class ready to learn, listen and adapt, then we can never succeed. We need to come in to math class with the attitude that we will get something out of this class and we will learn. 

Personally, I have always felt neutral about math. I waiver back and forth on whether I absolutely hate it, or whether it is somewhat manageable.  While it might come easy to some, I have to work and work on it to actually understand the concepts. The best way for me to learn is to do plenty of practice problems and I find that being in class and taking notes on paper is how I get the most out of math class. Its just about doing your very best and coming in with an attitude that is ready to learn.