Gates Bankrolling Educational Org That Says Math is Racist

a reply to: ketsuko



Higher level mathematics and I are not sympatico. Not in the slightest. I can do simple geometry and that's about the farthest I go. Or will ever go...


But even this mathematics incompentant realizes that there is no inherent bigotry in math. Is math used to defend it, surely, as has every discipline known.

a reply to: seagull

They aren't actually saying that math itself is racist. It's more insidious than that. They're implying that a focus on the right answer and objectivity are racist. And if those two concepts are racist, then it must follow that everything is subjective, including math.

My husband thinks they're working overtime to recreate and Tower of Babel.

After all, one of the things that sewed up different peoples and cultures was trade, and trade could not happen without an understanding of value which is basically math. The Silk Road was not a white thing, and it was kept going by the mathematics of goods and services, value and money. Trade. Had every different culture had its own subjective notion for numbers and how numbers relate, such a thing never would have happened.

originally posted by: seagull
a reply to: Sookiechacha

8 divided by 8 is always going to be 1.

There's no other answer that is correct. No matter how you twist it, and turn it. You may pretend it's otherwise all you wish, but it's still 1.

It's about knowing the rules. Rules aren't "objective", they are subjective.

originally posted by: Sookiechacha

originally posted by: seagull
a reply to: Sookiechacha

8 divided by 8 is always going to be 1.

There's no other answer that is correct. No matter how you twist it, and turn it. You may pretend it's otherwise all you wish, but it's still 1.

It's about knowing the rules. Rules aren't "objective", they are subjective.

The rules are the same. The problem is just poorly expressed.

originally posted by: Edumakated

originally posted by: Sookiechacha

originally posted by: seagull
a reply to: Sookiechacha

8 divided by 8 is always going to be 1.

There's no other answer that is correct. No matter how you twist it, and turn it. You may pretend it's otherwise all you wish, but it's still 1.

It's about knowing the rules. Rules aren't "objective", they are subjective.

The rules are the same. The problem is just poorly expressed.

Such is life.
You've gotta know the rules, regardless, if you wannna get it "right".

My point is, that mainstream academia can be persnickety about how and when those rules are delivered to students.

originally posted by: Sookiechacha

originally posted by: Edumakated

originally posted by: Sookiechacha

originally posted by: seagull
a reply to: Sookiechacha

8 divided by 8 is always going to be 1.

There's no other answer that is correct. No matter how you twist it, and turn it. You may pretend it's otherwise all you wish, but it's still 1.

It's about knowing the rules. Rules aren't "objective", they are subjective.

The rules are the same. The problem is just poorly expressed.

Such is life.
You've gotta know the rules, regardless, if you wannna get it "right".

My point is, that mainstream academia can be persnickety about how and when those rules are delivered to students.

No, you took a one off example to try to make a point that doesn't apply to 99.9% of situations. The rules are the same, it is just that is a way to express a math problem in an ambiguous way that could create a situation in the order of operations.

a reply to: Edumakated

No, you took a one off example to try to make a point that doesn't apply to 99.9% of situations.

Kinda like that "one off" student who hasn't yet the grasped the concept of rules being part of an objective truth?

You're just mad because those videos say that your answer, "1", is not the correct answer. How can that be if the rules are the same? The sums of "16" and "1" as being the "correct" answer to the same equations are irreconcilably different answers, going back to the document's assertion that "there is not always a right answer".

Don't feel down, half the internet agrees with you. I'm not here to declare the "right answer". I'm here to say that math, as we know it, doesn't always reflect objective reality. I agree with those who say that students need to be made aware of that, during the path of their studies.

Jesus, daft doesn't describe some in this thread. We must all be racist.

originally posted by: Sookiechacha
a reply to: Edumakated

No, you took a one off example to try to make a point that doesn't apply to 99.9% of situations.

Kinda like that "one off" student who hasn't yet the grasped the concept of rules being part of an objective truth?

You're just mad because those videos say that your answer, "1", is not the correct answer. How can that be if the rules are the same? The sums of "16" and "1" as being the "correct" answer to the same equations are irreconcilably different answers, going back to the document's assertion that "there is not always a right answer".

Don't feel down, half the internet agrees with you. I'm not here to declare the "right answer". I'm here to say that math, as we know it, doesn't always reflect objective reality. I agree with those who say that students need to be made aware of that, during the path of their studies.

You have illustrated my earlier point, math is an abstract concept and has no objective reality. But that isn't really the point here, it's about how it is taught and WHY it is taught that way. I believe you have pointed that out fairly well without having to do the math problems.

I never did well with math, other than the usual stuff like taking measurements and doing basic math, I did well in drafting and could manually do a 3-D projection from three views. I once took an employment test with math and damn if fractions didn't come up. So I had to go back and remember how to do that and did a lot of stuff on another paper. After grumbling about having to do fractions, the HR person told me I did better than most.

Was that because my white math teachers through the years had a problem with my race as a white kid? Obviously not, my attitude at the time was the real barrier to my better understanding of mathematical concepts.

I later took computer programming courses that basically required algebra and even started programing in HEX code. I came to understand much of this through art and music believe it or not.

a reply to: Sookiechacha
It's one (1).

Let me explain why you get two answers. Like ketsuko wrote, but I word it different. This is how basic math equations are handled:

() then ²&√ then *&: then +&-

This is set in stone. Period. The solution to the equation you posted is 1 and only 1. Where ever we have a set of rules, we need to asume that the input makes sense.

So if you give us the equation
8/2(2+2)
we need to suppose that the bracket is there for a reason.

That is, that the result it contains, needs to be multiplied. And we can. We can expand it

8/((2*2)+(2*2))

If we now apply the rule above, then the solution is one. It comes down to the 2(2+2) and the outer 2 belongs to the () operational wise. This is standard.

What you did with you calculator, try that in Windows calculator. For good reason, it interprets it instantly and only if you use (8)/(2(2+2)) you can put in the whole equation. It's not a fault of math, it's by intent. So if the only way to input the equation is to write it like that, then this is in line with other scientific interpreters like wolfram alpha computational intelligence engine

check out the link and the result.
www.wolframalpha.com...:2(2+2)
if first link does not work with your browser or phone, try this one
www.wolframalpha.com...

See 8:2y²=1 and you get y=2. This is the counter proof and it works.

Theres nothing more to argue about.

a reply to: ThatDamnDuckAgain

This is set in stone. Period. The solution to the equation you posted is 1 and only 1. Where ever we have a set of rules, we need to asume that the input makes sense.

This is the kind of persnickety and snobby attitude toward students who question or have difficulty grasping the concept of academia's empirical authority over subjective rule making, to express an objective reality, and their demand for a blind faith brainwashing acceptance of those rules, that I'm talking about.

a reply to: Sookiechacha
Nothing to say about the math in my post and the counter-proof that explains why you think there are two solutions? You didn't question to seek wisedom. I am not moking you or being snobby. I think my example was beautiful and I explained on many levels.

You now active decide to stay dumb on this topic? I am not holding you back...

a reply to: ThatDamnDuckAgain

Nothing to say about the math in my post and the counter-proof that explains why you think there are two solutions? You didn't question to seek wisedom. I am not moking you or being snobby. I think my example was beautiful and I explained on many levels.

Your esoteric links explained the origin of the "beauty" of your math. You're answer still isn't the "right" answer, according to math professors that are currently teaching our youths maths. It seems, they are operating by different rules than you.

You now active decide to stay dumb on this topic? I am not holding you back...

Is that what the 3 math teachers posting the current acceptable "correct" way to calculate the problem, whom I referenced in the my previous posts, all of whom say the solution is different from your answer, are doing, staying dumb?

My point is, something is only "set in stone" if we can all agree on the language and the logic is sound. If the language is secret, and the rules, [meaning of the words of the sacred language], can be changed and only revealed to the "chosen", by the "chosen", then it may lend to "discrimination" in academia.

Something like this.....? Ya gotta love liberal logic😂