Uncertain Principles: Algebra Is Like Sunscreen

My one-word piece of advice for students planning to study physics (or any other science, really, but mostly physics): Algebra.

Since we’re on the topic of math, let’s double the fun by visiting Cocktail PArty Physics: NEW VOICES: “math sucks”

“When I write, I can say whatever I want to say, but in math there’s just one right answer.”

She had a point there. I loved mathematics for its concreteness, its lack of ambiguity. It felt to me like a solid anchor in a hostile, subjective world. But the flip side of that is you can be definitely, unambiguously, totally wrong. You can’t plead “I was robbed,” like you can when the blind umpire calls you out or your sterling essay is marked with a D minus by a demented grader.

But … if the education is bland, and

[T]he core problem she faces, as she enters middle school “hating” math, is the math teaching itself, gender neutral, uninspiring for all.

There is the open question of why Austin (a boy) loves math.

I think an underlying issue is our desire to be able to point to a single problem to fix, when in reality there are multiple reasons why it’s tough to get kids to eat their vegetables learn their algebra.