ThinkingSapien
ImogenI’m glad I’m not a child or teenager in 2026.
ƧƿѦςɛ♏ѦਹѤʞ@ThinkingSapien
I once had to teach my maths teacher that (shortly before reminding him about how calculus works). LOL
#TrueStory #nostalgia
#maths
I once had to teach my maths teacher that (shortly before reminding him about how calculus works). LOL
#TrueStory #nostalgia
#maths
vicash@spacemagick @ThinkingSapien well that depends on what level the child is at. Initially they learn that sqrt of a negative number is undefined when they learn about square roots. But as they progress and learn complex numbers they get to i . As an adult while teaching it is important to match the level they are at. There are books written by the American Math Society on this. I recommend “Understanding Numbers in Elementary School Mathematics ” by Hung Hsi Wu
Active Mouse@vicash @spacemagick @ThinkingSapien I tend to agree tho there are some tricks you can bear in mind to make it go better.
If you teach kids that mathematical operations only have the meaning we give them - and it's a different question whether they are useful or match our expectations in reality - then it's easier to think flexibly later on when learning about complex numbers.
You can't do that when kids are learning addition on primary school, but you can do it when they're learning algebra and quadratic equations later.
Yeah, the way I learned it in high school, it was all abstractions for the sake of learning abstractions. In college, I had to take calculas based physics. That was slightly less abstract. I cannot call it concrete because in the real world, I don't do much with electrons that start off at an infinite distance away.
She is vaguely aware of the number i. I would talk to her about it more. But, understandably, I suspect she will point out that will not help her with the test she has to take in a few days. There is so much math I would like to teach! But unless there is a grade involved, I know I'll be blocked!
@ThinkingSapien @spacemagick technically i is not defined in the real number space so the value of the square root of a negative number in the real number space is actually undefined.