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- When I was going to high school in the 1950’s teaching math was fundamental. A typical math problem would look something like this:
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- Teaching Math in 1950’s: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit?
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- Teaching Math in 1960’s: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?
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- Teaching Math is the 1970’s: A logger exchanges a set “L” of lumber for a set of “M” money. The cardinality of set “M” is 100. Each element is worth one dollar. Make 100 dots representing the elements of the set “M”. The set “C” , the cost of production, contains 20 fewer points than set “M”. Represent the set “C” as a subset of the set “M” and answer the following question: What is the cardinality of the set “P” for profits?
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- Teaching Math in the 1980’s: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. Her cost of production is $80 and her profit is $20. Your assignment: Underline the number 20.
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- Teaching Math in the 1990’s: By cutting down beautiful forest trees, the logger makes $20. What do you think of this way of making a living? Topic for class participation after answering the question:
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- How did the forest birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down the trees? There are no wrong answers.
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- The performance of US students in middle and high schools on international math and science exams is below the averages of 38 other countries. Even advanced American math and physics students score near dead last among students in 20 countries tested.
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- Since 1990 the number of bachelor’s degrees in engineering has declined 8%, in mathematics 20%.
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- Only 32% of US students make it through school to get a degree in science or engineering. In China 59% of students graduate.
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- In the late 1970’s the US dominated both Europe and Asia in the number of science and engineering degrees. There were almost 24,000 Ph.D.’s per year. After 1990 the US has trailed both these regions and worse yet, 30% of the students getting science and engineering degrees at US universities are foreigners.
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- Teaching Math in the US in the beginning of 21st Century: By laying off 40% of the loggers , a company improves its stock price from $80 to $100. How much capital gain per share does the CEO make by exercising his stock options at $80? Assume that capital gains are no longer taxed in order to encourage investments.
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- Teaching Math in 2002: A company out-sources all of its loggers. The firm saves on benefits, and when demand for its product is down, the logger work force can easily be cut back. The average logger employed by the company earned $50,000, had four weeks vacation, a nice retirement plan and medical insurance. The contracted logger makes $30 an hour. Was outsourcing a good move, yes, or no?
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- Teaching Math in 2005: A laid-off logger with four kids at home and a ridiculous mortgage and an alimony from his first failed marriage comes into the logging-company corporate offices and goes postal, mowing down 16 executives and a couple of secretaries, and gets lucky when he nails a politician on the premises collecting his kickback. The laid-off logger is now serving time in Folsom taking math courses under the No Child Left Behind program that was extended to prisoners in California in 2004.
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- The No Child Left Behind program started in 2002 to put public money into math and literacy education. In 2007 it is to start measuring the progress of students in science programs as well. Progress is already slow and late.
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- In the meantime the academic community has gone totally Hollywood. Liberals have taken over the entire academic community. The teacher’s union is the biggest union in the state promoting more politics than education.
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- Higher learning courses now include human geography, example the professor that compared George Bush to Adolph Hitler after the President’s inaugural speech, was teaching human geography and mind mapping to his high school students.
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- Higher learning (?)institutions contribute to society by holding classes of mock trials for the impeachment of the President. English is taught as a second language and kids graduate high school unable to read their own diplomas. Just wait, next diplomas will be printed in Spanish as well.
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- The US share of high tech exports fell during the last two decades from 30% to 17%. Our share of manufactured goods fell from $33 billion to $24 billion in 2004. Our growing consumer consumption habits for better and cheaper foreign products made over seas is funded by the foreign money that is coming back and buying up America. By the time the Americans can do the math, foreigners will own the whole country.
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- Do you see that happening today, 2020, as some politicians are just now realizing that we should be producing some of our medications in this country. I can not even get my vitamin C that is all made in China. What other survival essentials are only in the hands of other countries? A lot!
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- The shirts from the 2 cowboys in the movie Brokeback Mountain sold for $100,000 on e-bay. When the buyer was asked what the average cost per shirt was he said “I don’t know, I don’t do Math”.
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- Other reviews available all about math:
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- 2664 - MATH - secrets of the universe? Since the dawn of humankind, our particular brand of hairless apes has stared up at the sky wondering how we got here. Is there a higher power? A higher purpose? Math is a amazing science. Somehow it is fundamental to how the world operates. Here are several examples of how math teaches us refined apes about our world.
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- 2604 - MATH - for fun
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- 2571 - MATH - was Invented to Solve Problems? This review discusses the short hand languages of math and how they were invented to solve problems. Then, there is an index of other math Reviews that are available upon request.
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- This Review 2571 lists some 20 more reviews all about math.
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- April 12, 2020 624 2705
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--------------------- Monday, April 13, 2020 -------------------------
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