Re:Learning algebra in my 60s
by hgomersall on Monday August 08, 2022 @03:27PM
(#32389892)
The problem is, these tools always feel like they should be "the way" it's taught. I feel complex numbers should be taught as a special case of geometric algebra, though I suspect that would make things much more difficult. My understanding is that lots of university level maths _is_ taught like this: start from the most general case.
I'm not a mathematician, but that sounds like poor teaching to me. Even if it's not part of the programme, learning the unit circle takes literally a few minutes and is an invaluable tool afterward. I don't know if it's possible to develop an intuition for trigonometry without learning the unit circle.