Why do people make math more complicated than necessary, particularly at an elementary level?

No, that's just proof that AOL is a collection of nitwits.

I think the biggest problem with math at the elementary school level is the use of remainders with division. When I went to school and we were learning division, we covered remainders for like 4 months.

For crying out loud, WE GET IT!!! From remainders you can build a pretty good understanding of the decimal system, but NOooOOOooooOOoo...it's obvious that third and fourth and fifth graders are too dumb to understand that there can be whole numbers and partial numbers...

Criminy, now I'm worked up.

Sometimes the simplest methods for solving a problem require the most ingenuity and thought. And sometimes a complex method can be the easiest to use if it's algorithmic in nature.

In aol's case, they were probably going by the a/b + c/d = (ad+bc)/bd formula, which may look complex, but anyone who can add and multiply whole numbers can plug in anyting for a, b, c, and d and get the right answer every time. No innate concept of fractions necessary, nor any dependence on the person having that light bulb go off inside their heads knowing that 2 goes evenly into 4. Which is great if you're, say, writing a program for a computer, and in that sense I think figuring out algorithmic formulas is great for future computer scientists. But yeah, I always felt that in general people make problems too tough on themselves. I managed to snag a college degree in actuarial science (a red-headed stepchild of mathematics) despite having a simple mind by just bringing the problems down to my level.

that's how I was taught - you find a common denominator by multiplying the two denominators together... in simple fractions like 1/2 and 3/4 the answer may seem obvious but the idea is to teach a basic principle that works with all fractions - then it can be applied to more difficult problems where the common denominator isn't immediately obvious.

Maths is made more complicated by expecting kids to see what others think is obvious. It is made simpler by providing them with a basic kit of "tools" with which to solve problems and telling them how to identify which tool to use, otherwise they approach each problem from first principles and never learn the techniques used to do mathematics.

I would tend to agree with you. I think the folks doing the teaching are not very good at math to begin with. So they can only teach in, what I call, a "straight line". They know how to solve quadratics *this* way, they only know how to factor *that* way, so they tend to flatten a student's creativity as a result. I'm sure you can look deeper than this in what I am saying, but you get my meaning I think.

Anyway, teachers that can only teach in a 'straight line', cannot field questions very well either. When asked a question, they stammer, or get angry, or worse, just give a half-baked answer that may not even be fully correct.

I taught algebra for a while at a local college. It was fun and I made sure to include my students in what was going on. I encouraged them to 'chat' with me about math, rather than have me stand and drone on and on and on. Sure I did have to present new stuff to them, but when we discussed the material, they were all eager to come to the board and everyone participated.

I warned them about quizzes and tests and guess what......I gave quizzes and tests over material they were to learn and know.

It seemed pretty successful and I'd like to do it again, but I'm doing other things now.

Anyway.....I think the teacher can make all the difference....good or bad in the performance, and more importantly, the understanding of the students.

Good question.

maths is the subject of intelligent people. so it is complicated to make your brains work. Great mathematician had worked for us to use it. So common denominator 3/4 + 1/2 = x is 4 only.

In this case they are using the simplest, sure-fire method for finding a common denominator, which is to multiply all the denominators together. It just isn't the *lowest* common denominator.

i do no longer attempt to quantify the point of my intelligence. i became continually sturdy at Math (i became additionally a Biology important, Chemistry minor in college), yet I on no account enjoyed it...continually favored English/Languages, although my grades tended to be somewhat larger in Math. poll: Math (have seen too a lot of human beings wither removed from maximum cancers to choose for the different decision).

yeah, the people here mostly have no idea how to do math the right way. in my county they got rid of the correct math programs which give people lots of knowledge w/o difficulty and retarded stuff, because the county's other schools don't have them.......

i believe they do it for they want all of us to be brainwashed into becoming robots.thats my imagination. supposedly, they're doing it so that we have an easyer time getting jobs, for now its becoming alot harder to get a job if u dont a masters degree and stuff like that.