Professor: Fractions should be scrapped

[grape]

www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-01-23-fractions_N.htm?csp=34

I wonder how it's possible to have to learn fractions by the time you need to go to calculus.

I for one am against his idea of putting fractions up to a higher level. Nobody will be able to understand different things that we know.

[Phil]

Being that I'm 36 years old, fractions were taught at every grade level or at least studied for a time at every grade level.

I still think that this professor has a good point though. No, not just because he's a Pennsylvania guy and so am I. [Although that bears some consideration]
-kidding-

He is probably right though there's no more fractional measure in most walks of life. When I first got my job as a railroad maintenance man back in 1990 we were still getting measures like 2 1/2'' holes. Now it's like 74mm holesaws. Measurements we use to use in fractions of an inch have switched to metric using millimeters or meters for larger things. Feet and inches are still used but not for drills and cutting.

So I would be able to understand that the University of Pennsylvania doesn't need that fractional discussion. Perhaps after 8th grade most people get the idea of what a fractional measure means and leave it at that.

Decimal measures are replacing fractions in other areas too.
I never took calculus

[GetZ]

WTF... Don't be retarded. It's kind of fun watching America get dumber and dumber, but it's a little scary too.

74mm is 74/1000 of a meter. That's a fraction. 74mm is also 7.4cm, or 0.074m. Those are decimals... Which are exactly the same damn thing as fractions: It's just two different ways of writing the same information.

Physics would get nowhere without making use of writing comparisons: You drive your car at 60mph. That's 60miles/1hour; HOLYSH*T a fraction LOLOOOL! That's what fractions really are, comparisons, ratios. That's a fundamental way of thinking for our species. The ability to weigh and measure abstract ideas against other ones. "Fractions" is just the word that we use to describe a convenient method of writing down this information.

The real issue here is that somebody has a book that they want to sell...

[Phil]

getz said:

WTF... Don't be retarded. It's kind of fun watching America get dumber and dumber, but it's a little scary too.

I'm not sure who that was directed at but I'll let it pass for now.

I am sure Vix and I are quite aware that decimal figures convert to fractions .10 is 1/10 but I think the professor's point was that we don't use the fractional measure as much. And as a 36 year old who has been on my job for 17 years I can tell anybody 1st hand that terms have changed.

For 1 thing tools and bolts are not measured in fractions of an inch hardly ever. They're are still some standard bolts but they're usually metric now.

Sure you can convert anything to a fraction if you needed to but instead of a bold that is 3/8 coarse thread by 2' length.

There more likely to be 10mm thread by 1.25 pitch and 50mm length.

So you tighten it with a 13mm wrench instead of a 1/2 inch. 13mm is slightly larger but its close.

Perhaps there's a book sale going on or some kind of angle being played for money.

I am also not sure that the professor is saying that other measures do not convert to fractions.

I have had my job 17 years and some months. I am 36 years old. If I reach 35 company years and 55 years of age I can retire with full pay benefits. So I'm 1/2 way home in company years but when I have my 35 company years I'll be 53. So I'll have to work another 2/100 of a century to get full pay.

[Classicblast]

Just to observe and to avoid any unnecessary anger, (maybe there wasn't going to be any) Phil, I don't think GetZ's comment was directed toward you or to Vix. To me it looked like he was saying the Professor is telling people that fractional math is no longer necessary. And people are buying it.

I think Phil's explanation about using decimals instead of fractions of inches in tool and dye making is also correct but not really what the professor in the article had in mind. My father and brothers operate a construction firm while my father-in-law is in the automotive repair business. They all say something similar to what Phil says about tooling and machines.

I think this professor, like GetZ says is discussing that fractions are not in use for other reasons not like Phil said about converting to decimals though.

That's my 2 cents on this anyway.

[GetZ]

Yep: People are buying an issue that isn't really an issue, and doing so in the form of his book. It's all marketing crap and it's stupid that people are paying attention to it.

As Vix pointed out, how is anybody supposed to learn how to manipulate fractions AFTER (as DeTruck says himself in the article) learning calculus...

Differentiation itself (the "first" branch of calculus) is a comparison being made between the rise and the run; It's the slope of a line; grade 7 or so math class.

Whatever. The guy is a dingus, and it's dumb that this is what it means to have a phd in the great land of opportunity...

[Demona]

I'm no math whiz and hate the subject, but puting fractions to a higher level isn't doing people favors. It's not hard to understand the basic ones, such as 1/4=half of 1/2 and 1/2=half of whole. I don't even know what calculus is or who uses it. Fractions are something you come across in measuring though, so at least it's used by everyone.

[jesusaurus]

What a retard... Fractions are a tool that makes things easier. Instead of .25 x .25 I can do 1/4 X 1/4. I don't know why you would want to not learn fractions. Especially if you're graphing linear equations.

[Kimm]

It looks like a scam for some reason like GetZ said to get publicity for this professor.

Nomatter how things are labeled that doesnt change the fact that you have to learn fractions.

What good is 3.1 do if you dont know how much .1 is? That seems like a pretty good scam for that professor to get famous.

[dannyboy]

I don't see how that's possible to scrap fractions that's the same as saying long division is becoming obsolete.

I see what Phil is saying that there are more uses of decimals to represent the fraction but that doesn't make it not a fraction.

I think Phil meant that the metric system uses the meter as the host and decimal percentages of a meter to represent measures as opposed to using an inch as the center measurement.

So 10 millimeter is 1/10 of a centimeter which is 1/100 of a meter.
the metric system doesn't call a 10mm wrench a 1/10cm like a 3/8 inch wrench in the other system I don't know what its called.

But of course they can't eliminate the teaching of fractions. A rebuttal le to the Professor in Vixs posted link says that too. Something like "Math is hard and there's no fast method to make it easy there just is none."

[edlin]

Yes. Fractions are extremely useful. How could you have proportions without fractions? (such as 2/3 = 7/x)

Sounds like some professor is being a troll.

[Commandhat]

Ugh, this board. I try to stay away from boards of this type nowadays...
Back on topic.

The profrssor has 1/2 or .5 a brain (couldn't resist), if he wants to change/get rid of the fraction system.

[fartinggurl]

I'm not a fan of fractions, or of any kind of math for that matter, but putting fractions in a higher level of math is a dumb idea. This professor obviously has nothing better to do.

[grape]

When you first learn fractions, they look like the hardest thing ever, but then you get used to it and then are the most basic and helpful thing ever. Supposedly, the professor wants to make math "easy" knowing that we are in the digital age. But doing so will have a large negative effect and cause people having a great doubt on how something formed up when it's the easiest thing.

[dannyboy]

You can't make math easy. Its like if you have half a chance and you work full time, you get a quarter the aggravation it takes to bring your checkbook to about 2/3 where it needs to be.

COuldn't resist sorry about that.

[grape]

Math's difficulty basically depends on how much you practice and work on it. Also, on how much you like it. I love math.

[Pumpkin]

getz said:

Yep: People are buying an issue that isn't really an issue, and doing so in the form of his book. It's all marketing crap and it's stupid that people are paying attention to it.

As Vix pointed out, how is anybody supposed to learn how to manipulate fractions AFTER (as DeTruck says himself in the article) learning calculus...

Differentiation itself (the "first" branch of calculus) is a comparison being made between the rise and the run; It's the slope of a line; grade 7 or so math class.

Whatever. The guy is a dingus, and it's dumb that this is what it means to have a phd in the great land of opportunity...

Well said, and that ain't the half of it.