---------------------------<snip>---------------------
I am also a big fan of the skills learned by people who learned to use
slide rules. Too bad there's no way people will be willing to learn
this anymore:
1. Proportion is all of the math that most people will use after
school.
2. Understanding significant digits is still very important. Lots
of people think that the circle that's about a yard in diameter is
3.141592653589793... yards in circumference (depending on your
calculator). We even make political decisions on misunderstandings
of significance.
3. Using a slide rule, you need to stop and think what answer makes
sense. We need to know where to put the decimal point. Having
some idea whether the answer should be 5 or 50 is a good idea in any
calculation.
-------------------------<unsnip>---------------------
Part of my now copious free time is taken up with tutoring high school
math and physics students. My first step is to take away all
calculators. First they do the math with pencil and paper. When they
seem to have mastered this, then they learn to use an abacus.
(Multiplication and division are frustrating, to say the least.) Then
they graduate to a slide rule (each one gets his own, for "the
duration"). Only after these steps are they allowed to use calculators.
The grade improvement is amazing and so is the attitude change. Much
more willingness to try and much higher self-esteem.
One guy complained to his Father about not being able to use a
calculator and Daddy called me and proceeded to try his hardest to melt
the phone wires. When I finally got his attention, I suggested he have
the kid make change for a $13.95 purchase from a $20 bill without a
calculator. The kid couldn't do it. Daddy called me back and apologized.
He's a mechanical engineer. The kid was a SENIOR in high school!
(Some school districts here in Metro Chicago allow kids to use
calculators as early as 2nd grade! I find this reprehensible!)
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