Is maths a waste of time?

somefeen

I think so, well the stuff I was taught in school was. I only have experience of it upto the Junior cert and I did foundation level.

But I think its easy to learn when you need to and if you can see a practical application for it. Why should people who don't do well at maths be excluded from college courses that are maths heavy.

Btw Im now doing a college course that involves alot of physics, maths, statistics and chemistry equations so thats what Im basing my opinion on.

My name is URL

Why should people who don't do well at maths be excluded from college courses that are maths heavy.

Answered your own question there, really

Blatter

No.

chin_grin

somefeen wrote: »

btw Im now doing a college course that involves alot of physics, maths, statistics and chemistry equations so thats what Im basing my opinion on.

You've just accidentally your own point.

joshrogan

What year of college are you in? The chances are it'll get alot harder.

RachaelVO

What? Course not! Whether you like it or not, it's used EVERY day, half the time you don't even know your using it...

My name is URL

RachaelVO wrote: »

What? Course not! Whether you like it or not, it's used EVERY day, half the time you don't even know your using it...

heh!

kjl

Chin_girl uses reddit.

somefeen

joshrogan wrote: »

What year of college are you in? The chances are it'll get alot harder.

Third year. It wasn't a walk in the park but I've managed

Chips Ahoy

without math there would be no time.

J K

I think you're putting 2 and 2 together and getting 5.

What college course are you doing?

Osgoodisgood

eh?

What was that now?

Hank Scorpio

Maths is one of the most important subjects IMO - comes in handy for poker too!

PseudoFamous

So you were a dosser in school, decided "Maths is stupid, I'm not learning it because it'll never come in handy in the real world". Now, you're doing a college course, and you see how it's used in the real world, and see a point in it.

Are you just confused in general?

Chuck Stone

I have to take off my socks and shoes to count as far as twenty.

Pherekydes

nuxxx wrote: »

Maths is the most important subject

FYP

kjl

the actually maths you learn are not too important, I am sure you will never really need to know the tangent of a circle. But studying maths allows you to develop critical thinking. I was very good at maths in school, I got an A1 in both honours and applied maths in my leaving cert. I now am a software development and I truly believe that being good at maths allows me to work things out logically. I encounter a problem and figure out how to create a solution, this is a skill I feel I learned from studying maths.

Not every course requires maths, but for the likes of the sciences, engineering and IT I would say they are a staple due to the fact that without understanding of it, you would very quickly get left behind.

chin_grin

kjl wrote: »

Chin_girl uses reddit.

Wtf did you just call me? :pac:

cocoshovel

I think its unfair that its a requirement for most courses that don't even have maths in them.

fungun

so you are saying that you can see that maths is important, so you think it should be ok not to do it

kjl

nuxxx wrote: »

Maths is one of the most important subjects IMO - comes in handy for poker too!

eh, basic maths. The only maths you need to know for poker is the rule of 4 and 2.

JohnMearsheimer

I hated maths in school but see the value in it now. It's meant to make you a better problem solver. I think it generically teaches you how to approach a problem, not just maths related, and steps you could take to solve it.

Shanotheslayer

kjl wrote: »

eh, basic maths. The only maths you need to know for poker is the rule of 4 and 2.

Stats helps to

somefeen

PseudoFamous wrote: »

So you were a dosser in school, decided "Maths is stupid, I'm not learning it because it'll never come in handy in the real world". Now, you're doing a college course, and you see how it's used in the real world, and see a point in it.

Are you just confused in general?

Nah boy what Im saying is I did foundation level for the junior cert which was stuff like "count these squares" and "48-22". I did it because I found ordinary level too difficult. Never did the leaving cert but im getting on alright in university on a science degree course. So does it really matter if someone is ****e at maths when they apply for these courses

fungun

ok everyone refers to the techniques but actually the specifics of differentiation/integration for instance is the foundation of the maths of chemical reactions and pretty much all physics derivations, so its actually critical

kjl

Shanotheslayer wrote: »

Stats helps to

What do you think the rule of 4 and 2 is?

MagicMarker

If we stopped teaching primary school kids how to speak Irish and say prayers and instead taught extra maths then the country wouldn't be in the state it's in.

FACT!!

Shanotheslayer

kjl wrote: »

What do you think the rule of 4 and 2 is?

I'm going to be quiet now :pac:

PseudoFamous

MagicMarker wrote: »

If we stopped teaching primary school kids how to speak Irish and say prayers and instead taught extra maths then the country wouldn't be in the state it's in.

FACT!!

Citations, please. We can't have you making wild assertions like that without sources to back you up.

chin_grin

MagicMarker wrote: »

If we stopped teaching primary school kids how to speak Irish and say prayers and instead taught extra maths then the country wouldn't be in the state it's in.

FACT!!

ALL HAIL THE HOLY ABACUS!

WindSock

It was not one of my strongest subjects in school but I know I could have been better at it if I bothered, which I wasn't.
I thought it was a waste of time then, but I don't think it is a waste of time now. It is good for keeping your brain ticking by solving problems.

Chuck Stone

kjl wrote: »

eh, basic maths. The only maths you need to know for poker is the rule of 4 and 2.

Shanotheslayer wrote: »

Stats helps to

kjl wrote: »

What do you think the rule of 4 and 2 is?

I don't use the rule of 2 & 4.

I use percentages.

MagicMarker

PseudoFamous wrote: »

Citations, please. We can't have you making wild assertions like that without sources to back you up.

I don't need citations, facts speak for themselves.*


*Also a FACT!!

Pherekydes

somefeen wrote: »

I think so, well the stuff I was taught in school was. I only have experience of it upto the Junior cert and I did foundation level.

Btw Im now doing a college course that involves alot of physics, maths, statistics and chemistry equations so thats what Im basing my opinion on.

Anyone wondering how the OP got into such a college course with foundation level junior cert maths?

starlit

No I don't think maths is a waste of time if anything its part of a life skill to have some idea how to add/subtract/multiply and divide! Very important!

Maths is hard but when it comes to the leaving cert its extremely important to be able to do. If doing so in college then its worthwhile getting to grips with it as best you can if you might have it as part of a career.

In the line of maths, business/economics/accounting/statistics, physics, science and engineering, Maths is very much a requirement to know and be able to do.

This world would be lost without Maths as well as being lost without English/Grammar. Though we wouldn't be all that lost without Irish though!

PseudoFamous

MagicMarker wrote: »

I don't need citations, facts speak for themselves.*


*Also a FACT!!

I don't think you've ever submitted a report.. If you're going to say something like the first comment, you should always say something like "it is common understanding that", rather than "FACT!!" if you want to try and bluff through a paper. In my opinion, it looks less.. insane.

somefeen

Pherekydes wrote: »

Anyone wondering how the OP got into such a college course with foundation level junior cert maths?

I dont have a clue either boy, they must of been having an off day in admissions. Funny story though, I never actually got a formal offer of a place.

Daniel S

As someone who was hopeless at maths:

I failed every exam in HL Maths during the Leaving Cert, apart from the 5th year summer test and the real exam, which I got 40% and a D3 respectively.

Thankfully I could see how important maths is, I persisted with it and I'm doing mechanical engineering now

F1 here I come!

*don't worry, I've worked at my maths and I'm not too bad at it anymore so there's no immediate danger*

PseudoFamous

somefeen wrote: »

Funny story though, I never actually got a formal offer of a place.

So.. you're just sitting in on the lectures, without permission. Explains a lot.

muppetkiller

foundation level junior cert maths ?? How on earth did you get into a Heavy Maths based college course ? It sounds like you took on Computer Science/Physics from your Subject lists but when I did that course we were proving things like einstein's theory of relativity was wrong...
Foundation Level maths you're asked if there are two Trees in a Garden and you don't do anything to them...how many trees have you left lol.

MagicMarker

somefeen wrote: »

I dont have a clue either boy, they must of been having an off day in admissions. Funny story though, I never actually got a formal offer of a place.

You're saying you got into college without doing maths past the JC?

I call shenanigans on that one.

somefeen

PseudoFamous wrote: »

So.. you're just sitting in on the lectures, without permission. Explains a lot.

Nope I have a lab coat and I've sat exams and everything

harvester of sorrow

PseudoFamous wrote: »

So you were a dosser in school, decided "Maths is stupid, I'm not learning it because it'll never come in handy in the real world". Now, you're doing a college course, and you see how it's used in the real world, and see a point in it.

Are you just confused in general?

How did you come to the conclusion the op was a dosser?
Im confused...

J K

MagicMarker wrote: »

If we stopped teaching primary school kids how to speak Irish and say prayers and instead taught extra maths then the country wouldn't be in the state it's in.

FACT!!

PseudoFamous wrote: »

Citations, please. We can't have you making wild assertions like that without sources to back you up.

Maybe you could follow the basic logic of this point if you had of studied more maths in primary school

starlit

Daniel S wrote: »

As someone who was hopeless at maths:

I failed every exam in HL Maths during the Leaving Cert, apart from the 5th year summer test and the real exam, which I got 40% and a D3 respectively.

Thankfully I could see how important maths is, I persisted with it and I'm doing mechanical engineering now

F1 here I come!

*don't worry, I've worked at my maths and I'm not too bad at it anymore so there's no immediate danger*

I was the same. Had a hard time with the maths myself but I got there in the end with sheer hard work. Once I got nearer to Leaving Cert I worked my bum off just to pass it at ordinary level but not only did I pass it I got a fantastic result better than my English and normally did better in English than Maths when I were in school! With persistence I got there in the end despite failing my maths on the odd test throughout school! Got grinds so that helped me a lot.

If anything my leaving cert maths has still stuck with me. I still remembered stuff when I went to college. Had to do business maths/statistics so was handy from that point of view. Took a while for it all to come back to me but once it did I excelled again in the ould maths couldn't believe it that I was doing so well in it in college.

Yet there are times I might need to look back over my times tables again and learn to count change properly!!!

Daniel S

somefeen wrote: »

Nope I have a lab coat and I've sat exams and everything

Ah well in that case....

laugh

Why not live in a world where everybody uses more and more complex technology and only a small fraction of society has the faintest how any of it works!

somefeen

No I even have a card to get into the building and an academic advisor and a student number

starlit

The square root of blah, function of, hypotheses theorem and demorgan's theorems mean anything other than accountancy and maths formulas....

Daniel S

somefeen wrote: »

No I even have a card to get into the building and an academic advisor and a student number

Reminds me of this:
Del boy: I've even have a lifesaving certificate.
Rodney: It's not his though.

:pac: