He was explaining the new invention called the computer to England’s Parliament. He was asked twice “Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?”
The nice thing about math (unless you’re one of those savants) is that you CAN show your work. I’d hate to try that for a history, language or composition class.
Have you seen the TV series Queen’s Gambit? It’s all about chess, and how intuition alone will get you halfway to where you want to be. The rest of the journey is accomplished by studying other people’s intuitions.
The point is missed from all three sides – why does the work have to be shown? Because when we get to the problems where the answer isn’t known in advance – we need a reason to believe that the answer given is actually correct. Particularly in the real world of almost any kind of professional technical analysis the intuition may guide where you think the answer is, but if you can’t prove it you might as well have thrown dice. As it turns out – if you haven’t practiced showing work? You end up documenting your intuition as work without realizing it.
Frazz16 hrs · Math teachers have such trust issues, don’t they? It always seemed to me that if I got the right answer, then that was that. And if I didn’t necessarily know how I came up with that answer, well, that was just a detail.
Of course, there would come a point in my education where my mathematical intuition hit its limits — I’m guessing somewhere around the 4th grade — and I would spend the rest of my life wishing I’d paid more attention to the process.
Then again, maybe I paid more attention to process than I thought. After all, now I’m a writer and artist of sorts, and all I do is show my work and leave it up to my readers to come up with the questions AND the answers.
Bilan over 3 years ago
Reminds me of an old story about Charles Babbage.
He was explaining the new invention called the computer to England’s Parliament. He was asked twice “Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?”
Concretionist over 3 years ago
The nice thing about math (unless you’re one of those savants) is that you CAN show your work. I’d hate to try that for a history, language or composition class.
e.groves over 3 years ago
That kid is going to be a lawyer, isn’t he?
danketaz Premium Member over 3 years ago
Nah, the only thing lawyers draw up is their bill.
The Brooklyn Accent over 3 years ago
You can intuit an answer, but in math and science, you’d best be able to prove it’s right, or it’s not math and science.
scaeva Premium Member over 3 years ago
That’s our educational system, all right.
kimlifton over 3 years ago
Thanks for the chuckle on a super cold, dreary day. :)
Richard S Russell Premium Member over 3 years ago
Have you seen the TV series Queen’s Gambit? It’s all about chess, and how intuition alone will get you halfway to where you want to be. The rest of the journey is accomplished by studying other people’s intuitions.
Thinkingblade over 3 years ago
The point is missed from all three sides – why does the work have to be shown? Because when we get to the problems where the answer isn’t known in advance – we need a reason to believe that the answer given is actually correct. Particularly in the real world of almost any kind of professional technical analysis the intuition may guide where you think the answer is, but if you can’t prove it you might as well have thrown dice. As it turns out – if you haven’t practiced showing work? You end up documenting your intuition as work without realizing it.
Night-Gaunt49[Bozo is Boffo] over 3 years ago
Jef Mallett’s Blog Posts
Frazz16 hrs · Math teachers have such trust issues, don’t they? It always seemed to me that if I got the right answer, then that was that. And if I didn’t necessarily know how I came up with that answer, well, that was just a detail.
Of course, there would come a point in my education where my mathematical intuition hit its limits — I’m guessing somewhere around the 4th grade — and I would spend the rest of my life wishing I’d paid more attention to the process.
Then again, maybe I paid more attention to process than I thought. After all, now I’m a writer and artist of sorts, and all I do is show my work and leave it up to my readers to come up with the questions AND the answers.
tee929 over 3 years ago
Purgamentum init, exit Purgamentum………