tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17087850.post115732111441763738..comments2023-10-31T06:50:41.697-04:00Comments on Factor: a practical stack language: Is American high school education really that bad?Slava Pestovhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02768382790667979877noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17087850.post-1157738222143636712006-09-08T13:57:00.000-04:002006-09-08T13:57:00.000-04:00Creativity in math stems from giving elegant and c...Creativity in math stems from giving elegant and <I>correct</I> proofs.Slava Pestovhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02768382790667979877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17087850.post-1157693679221669522006-09-08T01:34:00.000-04:002006-09-08T01:34:00.000-04:00My sympathies go to the people who are requested t...My sympathies go to the people who are requested to submit an intelligent answer to this sort of question on a test. <BR/><BR/>Any evidence of creativity will be punished!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17087850.post-1157500296752805722006-09-05T19:51:00.000-04:002006-09-05T19:51:00.000-04:00I think the Wikipedia article has a good section o...I think the Wikipedia article has a good section on why many people find it hard to accept, or make such mistakes. I don't think it is uniquely American. Part of it is probably bad pedogogical techniques of teaching limits, but some of it is probably the difficulty of dealing with notions they often don't encounter in everyday usage of notation and counting. <BR/><BR/>There are similar examples in physics. Many people will refuse to accept results in Quantum Mechanics that defy common cense notions, and it is even a troubling problem for those who understand QM 100%.<BR/><BR/>Indirect nature of some proofs can also confound some people. There are still people who refuse to accept the impossibility of squading the circle or trisecting the angle, and Marilyn Vos Savant, undoubtly a smart lady, albeit not academically trained in advanced Mathematics, refused to accept Wiles's proof of Fermats Last Theorem just because it used elliptic curves.Ray Cromwellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05070235196940096193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17087850.post-1157363332233117292006-09-04T05:48:00.000-04:002006-09-04T05:48:00.000-04:00Well, at least according to Paul Graham, American ...Well, at least according to Paul Graham, American high schools <A HREF="http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html" REL="nofollow">are little more than prisons</A>, with actual learning located somewhere far down on the list of priorities of both students and teachers...Arto Bendikenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12670756684434923124noreply@blogger.com