So why should we teach math?
Jerry Tuttle, Univ. of Phoenix
2018
Math occupations pay well
2018
www.bls.gov/ooh/math/mathematicians-and-statisticians.htm#tab-8
But not everyone wants a math career
Additional % income for each year of high school math
2018
Regression model, attempts to control for confounding variables; Old data, Calif only.
Math Matters. Heather Rose
Math is part of culture
2018
“People who enjoy performing an activity don’t feel the need to question its worth.” Stewart.
Movies: Stand and Deliver, Good Will Hunting, A Beautiful Mind, The Imitation Game, Hidden Figures, many more.
TV show Jeopardy has some math questions
2018
Final Jeopardy: 1930’s movies
Maybe we should teach logic
2018
Think ahead, make a plan, carry it out, check results
2018
Maybe we should teach chess
Paul Morphy vs. Duke of Brunswick & Count Isouard, Paris,1858
Numerous studies correlate chess with problem-solving ability, HS math grades (Ferguson). “Chess is genuine math” (Hardy).
We need to be able to evaluate the logic of news media, politicians, marketers, lawyers’ arguments
2018
Math is about “expressing relationships in numerical, graphical, symbolic, verbal, and pictorial forms. … Math is the study of patterns.” Jo Boaler
Who studies patterns?
● Art critic
● Book, movie critic
● Doctor
● Math guy/gal
● Police detective
● Everyone else
Patterns: In a movie, when an actor crosses a bridge, his life is about to make a major change. Fellner (movie critic)
2018
https://www.army.mil/article/198019/1st_sfg_a_bridging_the_gap
Math patterns
2018
What do the numbers show?
2018
Has Student Loan Debt increased sharply in recent years?
2018
1st graph from politician has hard-to-read axes, but is believed to start at 2000, with shaded section as 2010-2014.
2nd graph is same data for 2003-2012.
P. Bump, Washington Post, 2016
It’s so easy to create charts, do regressions, calculate correlations
2018
Tyler Vigen, Spurious Correlations, Tylerigen.com/iew_correlation?id=97
Workers “need to reason and problem solve, flexibly applying methods to new situations.” Boaler
Too many ridiculous problems, no real-world value.
Too many ‘plug and chug’.
2018
Summary of Book/Movie Moneyball
2018
Much more data, computing power than ever
Math is used more places than ever; the non-math person needs to understand it, make decisions.
Math models are used to predict:
● What you’ll buy next
● Movie profit before movie is released
● Quality of wine vintage before it is aged
● Your auto insurance claim from your credit score; is this fair?
…
2018
Here is the math surprise from my 42 year actuarial career:
The complexity of the math I needed rose dramatically over the years, as my career and my profession advanced. But,
The complexity of the math needed by my non-math major co-workers rose too, because they had to understand and make decisions from my work.
2018
So why do we make you take math?
2018
Bibliography
2018