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How important is memorizing math formulas?

radcen

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How important is memorizing math formulas? Is it still important, or is knowing how to use technology and how to find a formula enough?

In high school and college. For preparing for 'real life'.
 
How important is memorizing math formulas? Is it still important, or is knowing how to use technology and how to find a formula enough?

In high school and college. For preparing for 'real life'.

There's an Isaac Asimov story about that - "The Feeling of Power."
 
Back in high school and college I was really good at memorizing things like formulas. I had dozens of different formulas from my math, chemistry and physics classes commited to memory. 20 years later and I don't remember a single one because I never used those formulas again.

So for me, no. I think the average person can get along easily with basic algebra. Anything beyond that and only people in math heavy professions will make use of it.
 
I derived as much as I could so I wouldn't have to memorize.
 
How important is memorizing math formulas? Is it still important, or is knowing how to use technology and how to find a formula enough?

In high school and college. For preparing for 'real life'.


It's useful to be able to pull equations out of your head. I can still remember a lot of 'em, though mostly basic stuff. Area of a circle/sphere/etc, constant acceleration motion equations, some other stuff. I have a book of useful equations around here on the shelf somewhere but I rarely have to consult it.

Really it kinds of depends on what you do for a living, what your interests are... though stuff like calculating the area of a polygon is useful in things like home remodeling, etc.
 
Beyond proving to yourself that your brain is uber powerful.

It's not that important.

Ask your professor if they allow a formula sheet for exams.
 
Not important at all. You can always just Google it.
 
Not important at all. You can always just Google it.

what does someone do if the internet is down?

imo, we are depending on technology way to much.

example: at a fast food place I had a bill of $7.24. I gave the young cashier a $20. As she was entering the amount received I stated I have the 0.24. She had already entered the $20 and the register stated my change was $12.76 She could not figure in her head that when I gave her a total of $20.24 I would get $13 back in change.

While it is not a formula. My point is many people today are so hooked on technology that some have forgotten how to think and solve problems.
 
what does someone do if the internet is down?

imo, we are depending on technology way to much.

example: at a fast food place I had a bill of $7.24. I gave the young cashier a $20. As she was entering the amount received I stated I have the 0.24. She had already entered the $20 and the register stated my change was $12.76 She could not figure in her head that when I gave her a total of $20.24 I would get $13 back in change.

While it is not a formula. My point is many people today are so hooked on technology that some have forgotten how to think and solve problems.

Well if you use it often enough you probably remember it eventually but otherwise Google or a book has the answer. No one is expected to remember everything they have ever learned in class. Say you are an engineer and you need to sue a formula to calculate something you only ever do once or twice a year there is no way you are ever going remember it so you just Google it. Same with my data intelligence class at the moment, exams are open book because it would be ludicrous for us to remember all the variables and formulas.
 
what does someone do if the internet is down?

imo, we are depending on technology way to much.

example: at a fast food place I had a bill of $7.24. I gave the young cashier a $20. As she was entering the amount received I stated I have the 0.24. She had already entered the $20 and the register stated my change was $12.76 She could not figure in her head that when I gave her a total of $20.24 I would get $13 back in change
.

While it is not a formula. My point is many people today are so hooked on technology that some have forgotten how to think and solve problems.

I assure you that large numbers of Americans could not do that calculation under that pressure.
 
How important is memorizing math formulas? Is it still important, or is knowing how to use technology and how to find a formula enough?

In high school and college. For preparing for 'real life'.

everything up through basic calculus is worth memorizing
 
what does someone do if the internet is down?

imo, we are depending on technology way to much.

example: at a fast food place I had a bill of $7.24. I gave the young cashier a $20. As she was entering the amount received I stated I have the 0.24. She had already entered the $20 and the register stated my change was $12.76 She could not figure in her head that when I gave her a total of $20.24 I would get $13 back in change.

While it is not a formula. My point is many people today are so hooked on technology that some have forgotten how to think and solve problems.

I bought some puzzles on clearance yesterday that were ringing up too high and the girl and the counter had to change the price. They were supposed to be $6.49 each and for 2 with 8.25% tax her total for me was $11.10.
 
what does someone do if the internet is down?

imo, we are depending on technology way to much.

example: at a fast food place I had a bill of $7.24. I gave the young cashier a $20. As she was entering the amount received I stated I have the 0.24. She had already entered the $20 and the register stated my change was $12.76 She could not figure in her head that when I gave her a total of $20.24 I would get $13 back in change.

While it is not a formula. My point is many people today are so hooked on technology that some have forgotten how to think and solve problems.

As someone who is often on the other side of the register, that **** is annoying. Just do that before, and it's not problem.

It's not about not thinking and being able to solve a problem, it's about having to do "surprise math."
 
As someone who is often on the other side of the register, that **** is annoying. Just do that before, and it's not problem.

It's not about not thinking and being able to solve a problem, it's about having to do "surprise math."

Perhaps that is why they generally get paid near the MW. ;)
 
As someone who is often on the other side of the register, that **** is annoying. Just do that before, and it's not problem.

It's not about not thinking and being able to solve a problem, it's about having to do "surprise math."

If addition and subtraction are a "surprise" to you and youre not a 2nd grader then you have much bigger problems than running a register
 
I assure you that large numbers of Americans could not do that calculation under that pressure.

I think you're right, depending on the person. I would need a calculator since I've been using one at work forever! (unless you gave me enough time and held up the line) My daughter though, who is excellent with math, could spit out the answer quickly.
 
How important is memorizing math formulas? Is it still important, or is knowing how to use technology and how to find a formula enough?

In high school and college. For preparing for 'real life'.

More math knowledge helps your brain learn how to process. Making connections in math helps put the rest of the universe into perspective and helps you understand the truly fundamental things. Memorized formulas help you do math faster, which means you can do more math, which means you can figure more things out about the universe. Memorization itself is also a healthy exercise for your brian.

So, by the transitive property, memorizing formulas is important. You know, if you want to be good at stuff.
 
To be honest, math was never my strong point, especially after pretty much quitting school in the 9 grade year. There were plenty of formulas out there that I relied upon to get by with over the years and did so quite well. I can read micrometers with the best of them, but don't ask me to formulate the specs for that engineered ceiling beam I installed this past week.

Math is definitely my biggest self disappointment over the years, so I going to Tidewater Community College this fall for the Applied Technical Math courses. There are a few remedial math courses that I have to take first during the first semester.

My kids were always mad at me for going pretty hard on them with their math during their school years, but my daughter ended up in the top 10% at Radford University, and my son can give me the numbers for most anything off the top of his head when it comes to calculating specs for my estimates when I don't have a my tables with me for bidding jobs.

I am pretty nervous about attending, especially since I am 59 years old now, but I owe it to myself to do this.
 
I assure you that large numbers of Americans could not do that calculation under that pressure.

ah yes, a great deal of pressure. :mrgreen:

I would suggest the cashier needs better training.
 
As someone who is often on the other side of the register, that **** is annoying. Just do that before, and it's not problem.

It's not about not thinking and being able to solve a problem, it's about having to do "surprise math."

I generally tell the cashier I have the x cents. Many times the cashier rushes and enters the bill rather than waiting.

My point. The "surprise math" should not be an issue if people are taught / instructed properly. Correct change had to be figured out long before we had calculators.

Back to the OP. I personally believe one must learn formulas. If you don't know what formula to use, you can't solve the problem. Yes, there are times when one must look up information. Trig tables comes to mind.

For those who support well just look it up or Google it. What you are learning is how to search, not about the problem solving skill and how the formula relates to the problem.

but hey, I am old school. Finished high school in the 60's.
 
Not. And this from someone who uses maths most everyday.

Being able to memorize math formulas isn't very valuable. Being able to understand and solve involved maths, though, is. No company would pay good money for the former; many companies will pay good money for the latter.
 
How important is memorizing math formulas? Is it still important, or is knowing how to use technology and how to find a formula enough?

In high school and college. For preparing for 'real life'.

Well. there are so many formula's out there, you have to have a good understanding on WHICH formula to use. It depends on the job. Also, being able to do it without technology helps keep your brain healthy, because you USE it.
 
As with everything, the key to being efficient is to understand the *reason* behind it. At that point, remembering the formula is nothing

I think most high schools are very terrible at this. You just do the math, no applying, no explaining it. By the time you get to trig and later, you need to recollect things and understand the mechanic or you're gonna take forever
 
As with everything, the key to being efficient is to understand the *reason* behind it. At that point, remembering the formula is nothing

I think most high schools are very terrible at this. You just do the math, no applying, no explaining it. By the time you get to trig and later, you need to recollect things and understand the mechanic or you're gonna take forever

Trig also requires some memorization, in order to know when to do what.

That's really true of all math. Knowing why a quadratic has two answers is explainable with the quadratic equation and a graph, but you have to memorize the quadratic equation at some point in order to use it efficiently enough to solve for x(s). The higher up ypu go, the more and more important this becomes. Hell, just getting the order of operations right is a problem for some people, and that is nothing more than an exercise in memory.
 
Trig also requires some memorization, in order to know when to do what.

That's really true of all math. Knowing why a quadratic has two answers is explainable with the quadratic equation and a graph, but you have to memorize the quadratic equation at some point in order to use it efficiently enough to solve for x(s). The higher up ypu go, the more and more important this becomes. Hell, just getting the order of operations right is a problem for some people, and that is nothing more than an exercise in memory.

right and if you try to google everything you come across good luck making it to a STEM job, even if all your tests allowed that

this is true in order to be efficient at anything, even liberal arts. Having no ability to put things into context because you have to google every little piece of the puzzle is that the kind of 'solution' that will come from someone who won't be good at anything, and certainly will be easily replaced
 
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