[geeks] geeks Digest, Vol 86, Issue 11

[Phil Stracchino]

On 01/20/10 14:49, Jonathan Patschke wrote:
> On Wed, 20 Jan 2010, Phil Stracchino wrote:
>> I picked linear algebra because it's a not-too-difficult concept that
>> pretty much anyone should be able to master, but should give them the
>> basic tools to go on to calculus and higher math *if they want to*.
>> (And I may be misremembering the actual term.)
> 
> If I were to pick a mid-level math, I'd pick geometry/trig.  Trig is
> useful if you ever need to build anything, and the notion of proofs in
> geometry is great for building abstract thinking skills.

I tend to think one should go on to at least basic algebra to get used
to thinking in terms of generalized solutions that one can plug numbers
into on demand, rather than having to redo the entire calculation every
time.  Symbolic logic is a simple, yet insanely powerful tool, but you
have to learn how to think that way.


-- 
  Phil Stracchino, CDK#2     DoD#299792458     ICBM: 43.5607, -71.355
  alaric at caerllewys.net   alaric at metrocast.net   phil at co.ordinate.org
         Renaissance Man, Unix ronin, Perl hacker, Free Stater
                 It's not the years, it's the mileage.