Math education: It’s not about numbers, it’s about learning how to think

Re:Math education: It’s not about numbers, it’s about learni... by baq on Tuesday July 11, 2017 @04:09PM (#14747586)

And yet it's completely abstract as sets and numbers don't need a universe like ours to exists, they only need axioms.

Modeling the world is a job that math the tool was created for, but it certainly isn't concrete just because the world that needed it was or is.

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Re:Math education: It’s not about numbers, it’s about learni... by justicezyx on Tuesday July 11, 2017 @04:49PM (#14747921)

You forcefully disintegrate concepts and physical world. All concepts have certain degree of abstractness for human understanding. It's not unique to Math. And it's not necessary that abstractions automatically alienate something from concreteness.

To split them, and think that, just because there is abstraction, and it's OK to develop the concept without the concrete substrates of actual experience is trying to make dream come true.

And I argue that no one should live in a dream. And it's obvious that only those dreams that have a strong connection with the real world have realistic chance of being made real.

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