Math question

Discussion in 'Miscellaneous' started by Kenbushway, Feb 28, 2013.

  1. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Again, I never said humans were limited to using only base 10, so I don't understand the objections. I just said that's the reason we use base 10 at all.
     
  2. Shaytan

    Shaytan Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Fluctuat nec mergitur.
    :lol:
    Everything has to end so it'd better be in a silly and elegant way ;)
    But we're too sentimental to completely forget it.

    Where do you see an objection ?
     
  3. thestrangequark

    thestrangequark Admiral Admiral

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    Dude...no one has objected...
     
  4. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Well, that's what Rhubarbodendron's comment sounded like.
     
  5. Deranged Nasat

    Deranged Nasat Vice Admiral Admiral

    The Minbari in Babylon Five use base 11; 10 fingers plus the head.

    That's my useless contribution to the topic :lol:.
     
  6. thestrangequark

    thestrangequark Admiral Admiral

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    I do believe she was making a joke.
     
  7. Robert Maxwell

    Robert Maxwell memelord Premium Member

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    It was a joke, dude. :wtf:
     
  8. Gov Kodos

    Gov Kodos Admiral Admiral

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    And Centauri use six bases for the ladies...
     
  9. thestrangequark

    thestrangequark Admiral Admiral

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    In Contact the creators of the universe used base 11 too.
     
  10. CorporalCaptain

    CorporalCaptain Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    No contemporary discussion of numeral bases would be complete without mentioning that, because computer memory is ultimately composed of bits, computer scientists frequently use bases that are various powers of two: binary itself (base 2), octal (base 8), and hexadecimal (base 16). Base 64 also has a place, although it's rare, if ever, for data in that base to be directly manipulated by humans.
     
  11. Robert Maxwell

    Robert Maxwell memelord Premium Member

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    What's awesome to me is that binary math lets you multiply and divide simply by shifting bits left and right.
     
  12. iguana_tonante

    iguana_tonante Admiral Admiral

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    It's not the head.
     
  13. Kenbushway

    Kenbushway Captain Captain

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    To be honest the things you guys have said that is easy for you and helped understand still confuses me. Is my problem more than just learning math?
     
  14. thestrangequark

    thestrangequark Admiral Admiral

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    Math isn't easy for everyone, so don't worry. What's confusing you?
     
  15. Kenbushway

    Kenbushway Captain Captain

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    Concepts, the explaining of simple math.
    A teacher would has to literally go step by step and is likely going to have to repeat it more than once. And when I learn new concepts man it gets worse.
     
  16. thestrangequark

    thestrangequark Admiral Admiral

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    No biggie. So, it takes you longer and more time to learn math. Maybe you have a learning disability...I taught special ed for years. What do you need explained, I'd be happy to give it a go. The neighbors are having a loud fucking party, so I'm not getting to sleep any time soon.
     
  17. Kenbushway

    Kenbushway Captain Captain

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    I still don't get the part about 100, I've read about multiplication table, the ability for a certain number to go into 100, but I don't get it. Also I am good a science, I can understand it quite easily. since Math is the sister of science, why can't I understand math?
     
  18. thestrangequark

    thestrangequark Admiral Admiral

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    Could be a learning disability, like I said. Could be that math is just harder for you to grasp, or that you haven't been taught to think about it the right way yet. Like I said, we don't have a particularly good track record for teaching math in this country. I couldn't do much math in my head until I was an adult, I was successful at math -- in advanced classes and everything, but I had no fundamental grasp of a lot of the concepts (due to missing most of 7th and 8th grades). It wasn't until I was in college taking stats, but also taking classes on how to teach more basic math, that the concepts really clicked and all of the sudden I was good at mental math -- it was all about how I was taught to look at it.

    I like teaching, so if you want, I can try to help you figure it out.

    give me a sec.
     
  19. thestrangequark

    thestrangequark Admiral Admiral

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    Firstly, some of the things I bring up may seem really basic and young, but this is seriously how I first really grasped math concepts in college, so please don't take offense.

    Have you ever worked with a hundreds chart?
    [​IMG]
     
  20. thestrangequark

    thestrangequark Admiral Admiral

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    The hundreds chart is a great visual aid, because it really gives you a good idea of how base ten works. You can easily see the patterns that you know about (like counting by tens, starting at any number, ie 6, 16, 26, 36, 46...). I know it seems ridiculously simple to some people, but sometimes we just need to be able to actually see the pattern in front of us to get it, you know what I mean? I didn't see a hundreds chart until I was and adult, an it would have made math so much faster for me as a kid! Like I said, I was good enough at math to be in advanced classes, but that's only because I could memorize algorithms, not because I understood the concepts.

    There are other patterns that are easier to see when you look at the chart, like combinations of 10, for example. 4+6=10, 14+6=20, 24+6=30, etc. Does the visual aid help you to see the patterns at all?