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A comment on Stepping into math: Open-sourcing our step-by-step solver. Parent comment

Re:Stepping into math: Open-sourcing our step-by-step solver by KKKKkkkk1 on Thursday January 19, 2017 @01:09PM (#13437908)
Show your work means that when you are tested on your knowledge of a specific pen-and-pencil algorithm, you are expected to show a trace of execution of that algorithm. You're not being tested on solving the problem, but on knowing the algorithm.
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Re:Stepping into math: Open-sourcing our step-by-step solver by 0x45696e6172 on Thursday January 19, 2017 @02:19PM (#13438650)
Until recently I didn't even know there existed such a pen-and-paper algorithm resembling long division:

https://xlinux.nist.gov/dads/HTML/cubeRoot.html

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Re:Stepping into math: Open-sourcing our step-by-step solver by charmonium on Thursday January 19, 2017 @03:22PM (#13439158)
Perhaps math classes should focus less on remembering algorithms and more on inventing your own algorithms by solving novel problems. In that context showing work is much more meaningful.
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Re:Stepping into math: Open-sourcing our step-by-step solver by nitrogen on Friday January 20, 2017 @01:32PM (#13445833)
Then you have parents complaining about the difficulty of "story problems" and claiming math class shouldn't be reading class.
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Re:Stepping into math: Open-sourcing our step-by-step solver by Ar-Curunir on Thursday January 19, 2017 @06:43PM (#13440508)
I don't mean to be mean, but people who don't know basic algebra are unlikely to be making algorithmic breakthroughs.
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Re:Stepping into math: Open-sourcing our step-by-step solver by nitrogen on Friday January 20, 2017 @01:34PM (#13445859)
The parent comment probably meant that students would learn how to derive the necessary algorithm from the problem description, rather than memorizing a bunch of rote algorithms without being able to disassemble and reassemble them.
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Re:Stepping into math: Open-sourcing our step-by-step solver by posterboy on Friday January 20, 2017 @09:34AM (#13444004)
as per the curry howard isomorphism (programs as proofs), there is no difference, except that a few symbols are arbitrarilly bound but without loss of generality (as could be proven by induction).
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