Math teachers and incorrect terminology

"TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck) 04/25/2016 at 22:45 • Filed to: None

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Limits - the upper and lower bounds of a dataset.

Fences - Lower and upper boundaries of a dataset where values outside these boundaries are considered outliers. Defined by the first and third quartiles plus/minus 1.5 times the interquartile range.

Dang math teacher uses the former to refer to the latter, confusing the hell out of her students and the parents trying to help said students understand what she is talking about. She did the same thing when teaching them how to calculate the volume of regular prisms. There’s no telling how many other concepts she screwed up....

It’s like calling an alternator a turbo.

dogisbadob > TheRealBicycleBuck 04/25/2016 at 22:52

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inb4 common core

shop-teacher > TheRealBicycleBuck 04/25/2016 at 22:53

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Imma let you in on a secret ... Some teachers are complete and utter morons.

I had a calculus teacher in college who confused me so badly on the laws of exponents, I had to dig out my math notes from middle school just so I could unfuck my mind from the shit he had just shoveled that day.

JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! > TheRealBicycleBuck 04/25/2016 at 22:54

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I hate math. I don’t know if its possible to be more confused than I already am.

I’m going to be in high level English and history classes but remedial math...

TheRealBicycleBuck > dogisbadob 04/25/2016 at 22:55

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The thing that really burns me is that my son wants to argue with me about it when I’m sure I have had more undergraduate and graduate coursework in math than his teacher.

TheHondaBro > JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! 04/25/2016 at 22:58

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Math for me is pretty much muscle memory at this point. I know how to do it, but I have no clue what the fuck I just did.

Phyrxes once again has a wagon! > TheRealBicycleBuck 04/25/2016 at 22:58

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As a Physics teacher who masquerades as a math teacher at times whenever a student asks me a question my default response is hand me the textbook. Naming conventions in math have changed over the years and some textbooks make strange decisions about terminology and word usage.

And I still have no idea why math teachers like completing the square, yeah I get it that is where the quadratic formula comes from but once you have that why would you ever do it again. I challenged our calculus teacher to use completing the square to solve a projectile motion problem, because completing the square with decimals is such fun...

TheRealBicycleBuck > Phyrxes once again has a wagon! 04/25/2016 at 23:06

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That’s the first thing I do when my son has questions. Let’s take a look at the book. Fences (“limits” in her vernacular) aren’t even discussed in the book, so why is she bothering to go over them and use the wrong terminology to “teach” them? When she was confusing them about prisms, the book was clear but her explanations and homemade worksheets weren’t.

Phyrxes once again has a wagon! > TheRealBicycleBuck 04/25/2016 at 23:10

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Is this in any way related to state mandated testing? Just curious, as I don’t teach in a public school.

On a related note the coursework thing is likely true I have parents with way more physics coursework than I do, that is why they are rocket engineers and I am not.

I took a continuing education class in math that I would be qualified to teach it further reinforced to me that math people live in their own little world and while its a nice place to visit I certainly don’t want to live there.

JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder! > TheHondaBro 04/25/2016 at 23:11

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Ive had terrible math teachers all throughout high school. Makes it really hard when you don’t even get the foundation of what you’re learning

I just keep telling myself how I will NEVER be using any calc or trig in my every day life

MountainRoadPhysicist > TheRealBicycleBuck 04/25/2016 at 23:11

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Variance is such a better thing to work with. Nice easy numbers that mold perfectly to a distribution.

TheRealBicycleBuck > MountainRoadPhysicist 04/25/2016 at 23:23

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I’m much more interested in geostatistics. Fractal dimensions, anyone?

TheRealBicycleBuck > Phyrxes once again has a wagon! 04/25/2016 at 23:29

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It looks to me like she is following along with the curriculum in the book, but wants to put her own spin on things which is just confusing everyone. I really hope that he gets the other math teacher next year.

It’s funny how characteristics define groups. I am surrounded by engineers and I find it endlessly fascinating how their thinking is so linear. I watched a group of them work diligently on a task for a month before I convinced one of them to let me give it a go. I was able to get a rough draft solution in half an hour and a complete solution a few hours later. The difference was all about the approach.

MountainRoadPhysicist > TheRealBicycleBuck 04/25/2016 at 23:43

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Fractals, nonlinear mathematics... it is all really strange stuff.