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A comment on So you want to study mathematics. Parent comment

Re:So you want to study mathematics by zozbot234 on Monday March 07, 2022 @05:28PM (#30594217)
Calculus is also a requirement for statistics and probability. You simply cannot meaningfully talk about the latter without referencing the former.
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Re:So you want to study mathematics by wbsss4412 on Monday March 07, 2022 @05:58PM (#30594482)
You can certainly make significant headway with some basic combinatorics and basic tables for things like the normal distribution, no calculus needed. This is in fact how most people currently learn statistics.
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Re:So you want to study mathematics by kjasdfj3 on Monday March 07, 2022 @10:06PM (#30595987)
What happens when you dont have tables?

In the land of the blind the guy with one eye walks everyone off a cliff.

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Re:So you want to study mathematics by tibbar on Monday March 07, 2022 @11:16PM (#30596387)
I mean no one integrates to find the area under subsections of the normal distribution because you have to use numerical methods for that anyway. And it only gets more complicated from there with chi-squared and various degrees of freedom etc. Tables are a perfectly fine way to deal with distributions…
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Re:So you want to study mathematics by novok on Tuesday March 08, 2022 @01:13AM (#30596962)
Most real life integrals and differential equations are not analytically solvable anyway, so you run into tables like you do with most real life applications of logarithms.

What happens is you learn numerical approximation methods and then recreate the tables with human 'computers', like we used to do before electrical computers came into play. Or create mechanical analog computers like they did in the 1800s or greek times.

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Re:So you want to study mathematics by wbsss4412 on Tuesday March 08, 2022 @10:05AM (#30600659)
That’s question is akin to someone saying what happens when you don’t have a calculator. Everyone has one in their pocket at all times.

How would the typical person go about calculating the normal distribution by hand? Are we going to call everyone blind because they haven’t memorized e to arbitrary precision?

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Re:So you want to study mathematics by jldugger on Tuesday March 08, 2022 @06:56PM (#30609093)
> What happens when you dont have tables?

IDK, what does R do?

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Re:So you want to study mathematics by dagw on Tuesday March 08, 2022 @05:03AM (#30598296)
Yes and no. You have to understand the fundamental concepts of integration, differentiation, differential equations etc. and what they mean and represent. All the time spent learning how to do symbolic integration by hand is however time that could be much better spent.

I also think you could and should start by teaching probability and statistics and using that to introduce calculus as and when it shows up naturally, rather than teaching calculus in the abstract first and then showing the applications much later.

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Re:So you want to study mathematics by antishatter on Monday March 07, 2022 @06:31PM (#30594730)
I am a statistician and this guy gets it. Stats converges to calc at its core. The real issue is stats education is bad.
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