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Dave_Tribbiani t1_jcxts18 wrote

They were right.

Shit ton of people, vast majority of them, can't do basic math.

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Safety1stThenTMWK t1_jcxvvdf wrote

You’re right. I’m a high school teacher (not math), and very few of my students are capable of doing arithmetic without a calculator. I can’t imagine how tedious it must be having to pull out a calculator every time you need to do basic arithmetic.

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DragonfruitNeat8979 t1_jcy36wy wrote

Oh no, having to pull out your phone? I mean, who wants to use a device that's always within arm's reach and has a built-in calculator? It's much more fun to struggle with basic arithmetic and waste precious brainpower on simple calculations. Who needs efficiency when you can have frustration and headaches?

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Safety1stThenTMWK t1_jcy4kbv wrote

No need to be rude.

Calculators are great when you need an exact answer or the problem has a lot of pieces. A lot of problems just require estimates, and many high schoolers and adults can’t do that.

If you ever work outside where your hands can get cold, wet, and/or dirty, you’ll understand that using your phone for math is not always convenient.

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Frumpagumpus t1_jcy3yln wrote

adding and subtracting are some of the first non trivial algorithms students learn.

learning is mostly memorization and doing is mostly cache retrieval

in short you are wrong

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godlords t1_jcylw8d wrote

this is what you're not getting bud.. it shouldn't require any brainpower at all. basic arithmetic should be near instaneous. It was for me until I got to higher level maths and started relying heavily on my calculator.

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DowntownYou5783 t1_jcz5c6h wrote

It's pretty wild how poor adult math knowledge can be (at least in the United States).

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Slapbox t1_jcywhmm wrote

I wish calculator weren't allowed in school for a lot longer; I think I'd have retained more math skills.

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