Wednesday, March 11, 2009
"I don't do math!"
I've heard and read some comments about math that sound something like, "I don't do math except in math class". I've even heard teachers say this with an added "We don't do math in this classroom". This usually comes from a language arts teacher and I wonder what the reaction to me would be if I said, "I don't do words!" It's kind of absurd because I couldn't survive without words. The same is true with math, of course. Frequently, I'll hear one of these comments and the speaker then immediately looks at their watch and says or thinks "Oh, I've only 45 minutes to..." or "I just can't afford..." It's kind of ironic. Math is a language that helps us understand the world and everyone uses it whether they realize it or not. The trick to being the master of our own lives is finding the underlying reasons that things happen, which allows us to make predictions and solve problems.
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I do realize that I think that alot also. SOmetimes I think I don't really need to use math except in during 2nd period, but we actually do math alot.Math is like another language, and we can't live without it.
ReplyDeleteI have hear people say they "don't do math" all the time. People do use math outside of math class. For example you use math when you go shopping, when you tell time, and when you cook. Math is an important part of out lives, and everyone should know that.
ReplyDeleteWow. Well I do frequently say that i don't do math outside of the class. And in a way i don't. Of course I use math like time or calculating expenses but i would not be lying if i said i NEVER use the kind of math (substitution method, equations, inequalities, etc.)that we do in class. I can't even think of a situation in my life where i would want to or need to graph a linear equation. Also about the "math as a language" thing i would have to disagree. I don't think math is a language like spanish or english is. I think math is a way we can look at things in our life. And you can't verbally communicate your mathematical discoveries without words. However, you can fully communicate in an actual language without math. I agree that math is an important part of our lives but i don't think it should be taken so far as to say that it is a language or even to compare it to "words".
ReplyDeleteI think that math is used outside of class for some things but not the things that we are actually doing in class. I cant think of any time that I have used the equations we are currently learning at all outside of the class. After I leave that class, I dont think about that particular math that we did. I agree that we use math in our everyday lives but I dont think that math is a language. It is a way to solve problems and in my opinion, I prefer to solve most problems a different way.
ReplyDeleteI think that someone saying that they do not do math is like saying i dont know hoe to speak. I am truly not a big fan of math but math is like a third way to speak like talking and writing it is a diffrent way of going on with life and if conciously or not we all do math in a daily basis.
ReplyDeletePeople that say "I don't do math" are saying that just because they may not be good at math or get the best grades in math class. Usually people that are good at math like math. Also language arts teachers say "we don't do math in this class" because they are passionate about thier subject. In my opinion math is good
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ReplyDelete"A!"
ReplyDeleteMan i think math is very important. Even if you hate it you must admit that math is very important because you use it every day. Like for shopping or in science and a whole bunch of other stuff. I kinda like math LOL.
"A!"
Math is known everywhere and all around us. we use it without knowing. I believe that algebra wont get us far but it helps us learn other things. When we use math outside it wouldnt be complicated like algebra. when i use math it's usually simple like 5 + 5. not what's 3x+45.
ReplyDeleteI guess the question becomes, "What is Language?"
ReplyDeleteOne dictionary definition is "Communication of thoughts and feelings through a system of arbitrary signals, such as voice sounds, gestures, or written symbols". The debate might rotate around whether or not math can communicate "feelings".
I think people use math a lot out of class even if they don't know it. They use it to tell time, calculate money, etc... However, I think that many people do not use the equations we do in class, though there are certain professions that require it. For example, carpenters, architects and other jobs that require designing and other things require lots of more difficult math. Even though many jobs don't require difficult math, all jobs require some math and lots of everyday things such as cooking require math, some of them being more difficult than others. Math is very important to our society.
ReplyDeleteI realy understand that. Although most of us dont realize it, we are using math all the time. We use all types of math. I never really saw it that way. I guess what we think when we say "I only do math in this class" is that we only do this "type of algebraic math. Even that may be wrong. Hopefully we all understand what Mr.Treistman is trying to say.
ReplyDeleteI do always hear people say "I don't do math", but we do use it everyday for things like telling time and for money. We almost never use things like the substitution method and linear equations and all that stuff though. Math is kind of like another language and we definitely can't live with out it.
ReplyDeleteIm sorry but i kinda have to disagree with saying that "I don't do math," is absurd. Sure we all know that we do small arithmetic through out our day but i dont think thats what people mean when they say that. I think when people say "I don't do math," they are saying it about the calculus they struggled through in high school. They probably just don't like to do math in their head and would rather rely on calculators and computers to do that creepy math for them. I am one of those people.
ReplyDeleteHaha Yay I Can Finally Post A Freaking Comment!
ReplyDeleteOoops I Don't Think I Can Say That...Well It Is
Pretty Funny When People Say That The Only Time
They Do Math Is Math Class. Or Like Math Hurts
Their Head Or Some Other Lame Excuse. I For One All Ways Say That Cause I Truly Don't Catch Myself Using Math Outside Of Math Class. But In Fact Like We Use Math On A Daily Bases But We Might Not Even Notice!(:
-Lisa L.
yea. simple math is everywhere. like telling time and counting your coins in your pockets. but this is the stuff we were taught as a kid. so i don't think it registers in our brains as math. it's natural. just like when we talk to all our friends in a big group it comes naturally to listen to what all your friends are saying and to respond. but when you learn another language you have to listen really hard to one certain person and then think of a response... it doesn't come as natural. just like with math.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both sides. Saying "I don't do math" is absurd could be kind of insulting. Considering that some people aren't necessarily good at math shouldn't be absurd! But all of us do DO math. Maybe not consciously, or any good at math, we all do it. And I've caught myself a few times doing that!
ReplyDeleteThere is also the consideration of doing math well but not really liking it. . . (I'm not talking about myself).
I think some people think they suck at math but just dont understand. i am starting to understand math and its harsh ways.
ReplyDeleteSaying "i don't do math" is, excuse my language, total bull. Everyone does math but its math that no really considers being the math we do in school, that they claim won't ever use again in life. Math is somewhat of a language, it's a way of communicating in a different understanding of how we see the world and problems. I guess you won't use it everyday, but you can never learn too much math.
ReplyDeletePeople say those things because they dont understand the math they do. I think they sya i don't do math because they think math is just in the classroom and that it won't help them when theyre outside of school. And the math we do inside of the classroom might not seem as important as maybe buying something at the store but it's still important. We dont speak "math" like we speak english, so i disagree. Sure there is math behind everything we do but we don't talk with our friends doing math or we don't write essays speaking math. but math is important in one way or another. i just dont think you could say math is words and words are math. We use math in everything we do but its not as straight forword as it is in math class.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this. You use math when buying something. I never realy noticed this until now.
ReplyDeleteWe do math all the time, depending on whether you like it or not. When people say "I don't do math" they are probly mostly talking about the math they don't use in their daily lives. Because of course you do math! In our everyday lives you do math, like cooking, telling time, doing your grades (for those teachers out there). So therefore saying you don't do math is lying.
ReplyDeleteI guess, I didn't think i use math much outside of math and science class. Lots of people don't realize but math is essential.
ReplyDeleteI think everyone uses math all the time they just know it like even the poor kids in Africa that don't know math they still use it when they get up or when they work. And language arts teachers don't really work directly with math so when they are using ot they don't realize it. Because math is using any type of numbers like time or distance or amount of something and people don't realize that so they think "I'm not doing math problems so I'm not doing math at all." SO I think the problem is people don't know what math is.
ReplyDeleteI think math is just something we automatically do. from the time your a little kid counting your lunch money until your an old fart counting out how many pills you need to take that day. Even though we do it all the time, doesn't mean we use all kinds of math all the time. I don't see myself looking at the clock using algebraic equations to figure out what time it is. It's jsut common math we all need to know. And I don't even do math in class becasue I don't understand your ways of teaching. Not just typing up a word document and putting it on the overhead expecting us to teach ourselves.
ReplyDeleteMath is in everything so I don't get why LA teachers say they don't do it. Math is even in finding a page # in a text book.
ReplyDeleteWow! I also hear that all the time but I’m going to be honest even though math is my worst subject I don’t say “I don’t do math” because to me math is important in life. I just can’t say that because it’s very helpful for me. This because it helps to understand things better such as money, density, areas, nature, and etc. I never knew that math can relate to these things until I had explored it more. People shouldn’t just say things until they had explored it. So I don’t understand why others say “I don’t do math” because we use math in everyday life.
ReplyDeleteI use math everyday, but not the kind of math we are doing in class like linear equations and inequalities. Although I do think math is very important and everyone uses it to some degree. We couldn't live without it.
ReplyDeleteI think that LA teachers really do math, they just don't realize it, along with lots of other people. You need to use math to do lots of every day things. Like playing sports, cooking, doing laundry ect. There are different types of math, and I think math isn't easily recognized, since most people just see math as 2+2=4.
ReplyDeleteWhat I don't understand is if the math problems we do in class have all been done then why are we still doing them. We should find new problems and try to solve those with every new generation comes new problems and I think the problems we have now need to be fixed now. They are all math related why can't we try to solve them in math class.
ReplyDeleteyou dont really realize it until you put some thought into it. at first thought i would have said "well i dont actually use math" but i always try to leave my house around 6:30 to give me about 20 minutes to walk to the bus or count out my munnies to go buy a soda or something samll. people deal with these small things so much that it just becomes natural, so much so that you dont usually realize it.
ReplyDeleteyea i realize what people say. but its wrong. i do, do math outside of class. like counting things in a bad. or playing a game and figuring out scores and stuff. so i think that people who say they dont do math but, in math class. they are wrong because everything we usually do involes math like counting. subtracting, multiplying etc.
ReplyDeleteI would totally agree!! How can people say that they don’t do math? This world is math! It is needed and used everyday.
ReplyDeleteThere have been some very thoughtful posts and I'm lookng forward to the next blogging event.
ReplyDeletei was so surprised when i first noticed that all things can be explained with math...
ReplyDelete