Why "common core" maths isn't as stupid as you think

Every so often, I see a post show up in my news feed about how "common core" maths is new, and thus, terrible. Well, not quite. It's mostly people who don't understand it because, for one thing, they've been shown an example that's deliberately cherry picked to show it looking dumb, but for another, they haven't had the method behind it explained.

And, well, if there's one thing I love doing, it's explaining maths things like a nerd!



Now, I want to ignore for a start, the fact that the new method of maths isn't "common core". I'm going to get this horribly wrong, because I'm not American and the name "common core" comes from the new American teaching standards. The fact that it includes this new style of doing maths is kinda just a coincidence. America isn't the only country teaching students this method, my younger sister was being taught it a year or so ago.
But to me, this is kinda pointless semantics. I want to explain the method behind this, so to do this, let's start with the example constantly being shown.

32 - 12

Now, hopefully anyone can look at this and figure the answer is 20. The problem comes from trying to actually properly figure it out by hand. The old method and the new method side-by-side look something like this:

You get the same answer either way, but the old way on the left looks much easier. There's only one step, and the way on the left just adds in more ways you can make errors. Why would anyone use it? Where do those numbers even come from?

I'll answer the second first. What you're never shown in this example is what's actually being done. You just get shown some weird numbers and, if you don't understand what the method is, of course they'll look strange.
The point behind the new method is that, well, the human brain is really awful at maths. Seriously. Our brains are simply not wired that way. Our brains evolved in an environment where the only useful numbers were "one enemy" and "lots and lots of enemies". That's why we invented the calculator.
So the new method is designed to get the numbers to something nice and friendly. Specifically, multiples of 5 and 10, because multiples of 5 and 10 are pretty much the easiest numbers to deal with. 12 + 3 = 15, 15 is a nicer number than 12, 15 + 5 = 20, and 20 is a much nicer number than 12.
The other thing it's designed to do is to skip subtraction entirely. Our brains are pretty awful at that too, and pretty much any time anyone subtracts anything in their head, they're actually just thinking "now what number adds to make it up to the full amount?" Subtraction is, at its core, reverse addition, and that's the way our brain subtracts too. By leaving out any actually subtraction, we make it easier for ourselves to actually subtract in our head. Keep in mind that, this also poorly represents how the second method actually works. You don't do all those additions, then do that last addition at the end. You keep a running total as you go. You go, "oh 12 + 3 = 15, 15 + 5 = 20, 5 + 3 = 8 and I'll keep that in the back of my head, 20 + 10 = 30, 8 + 10 = 18, good thing I didn't forget that 8 I said I'd remember, 30 + 2 = 32, 18 + 2 = 20".

Because that's the main point behind this new method of maths. To teach students how to subtract in their head in a way that is easy, actually works with out brains and not against and, most importantly, has a smaller chance of errors. Let's face it, pretty much any time you need to do some subtraction, or any other complicated maths problem, and you've got a pen and paper handy, you've almost certainly also got a calculator handy, either on your computer or on your cellphone. Nobody really needs to know how to do pen-and-paper maths except as an absolute last resort. Being able to do it in your head, however, is pretty handy.

Let's look at a different example.

31 - 12

Oh dear. That old method isn't looking quite so good any more. It still kinda looks better though, right? Also, note I skipped a step in the second one there. While the example shows adding to multiples of 5, I don't really see the point in that. To me, it's easier to go straight to multiples of 10. That way, until the final step, you're only ever adding a one multiple of ten to a different multiple of different.

But also remember what I said. Half the point is being able to do this in your head. How do you carry the 1 in your head? It's doable, but it's easy to slip up.

The difference becomes more obvious when you start having 4 or so digit numbers. Like, say... counting out change!

Let's say, you're buying something for $3.45 and you're paying with a $20 and you want to know how much change you get. Let's look at both methods again!

20 - 3.45

Look at the convoluted way the old method takes to figure out change, whereas the new method is much, much easier to do in your head. A lot of cashiers already know this method for counting out change, but suddenly, when it's labelled "common core", it's terrible? I know I'd used it a few times before I'd heard the phrase "common core", because it's easier to do in your head.

Lastly, though, I want to use a nicely cherry picked example to, well, demonstrate why cherry picking is stupid but also to illustrate my point again.

1000 - 999

Wow! That old method is so slow and terrible! Why would anyone use it?

Answering Genesis: Interpreting the Evidence

One of the main position's held by Answers in Genesis is that they don't have different evidence, they just view the evidence through their own world view, while "evolutionists" view evidence through a different world view. As I've said before, this is really just so that, when evidence contradicting their position is given to them, especially transitional forms, they can claim to just be interpreting it differently.

That guy on the right looks like a porn star. Just sayin'.

And so, I wanna take a look at this view. See if it stands up to scrutiny. Because, of course, it doesn't.

Answering Genesis: "Hiding in the Light"

This is another very "observational science" based episode of Cosmos, so Answers in Genesis really didn't have a huge amount of material to whine about. So, instead they went for their usual fall-back strategy of whining about abiogenesis, whining about the big bang theory, playing the victim and, of course, "it's just historical science! That means I can reject it out of hand and ignore any evidence supporting it!"

I was honestly expecting to not have a lot of a fun with this, but hey, let's have some fun!

Answering Genesis: "A Sky Full of Ghosts"

Yay! Finally caught up with the Cosmos series! And the latest episode was great for a simple reason: It presented a pretty simple and obvious reason why the universe cannot be only 6000 years old, as predicted by biblical creationists, giving Cosmos its first direct attack on young earth Creationists. And boy, did it get Answers in Genesis mad.

The episode itself was pretty interesting, though I'd hoped it had talked more about relativity. Relativity is pretty awesome, but the stuff about black holes was also pretty interesting, though I'd hoped it would talk about Hawking radiation a bit too. But oh well. One of the slightly disappointing things about the new Cosmos series is that the episodes themselves are only 45 minutes long without ads, while the original series had hour long episodes. So there's a wee bit that needs to be trimmed and it does show sometimes.

But that's beside the point. Let's talk about creationists!

Answering Genesis: "When Knowledge Conquered Fear"

I have to admit, the first time I saw this episode, I really didn't see much in there that would object creationists. It pretty much just talks about how comets were originally seen as harbingers of destruction, then explains how Halley, Newton and a few others discovered what they are, how gravity works and some other really cool science. I forgot though, creationists are offended by pretty much any science that doesn't apparently confirm their interpretation of Genesis. So naturally, they got pretty annoyed at this one too.

Why?

Please note: there are several instances of objectionable language in this episode of Cosmos.

... Oh. Wait, what?

Answering Genesis: "Some of the Things That Molecules Do"

The second episode of Neil deGrasse Tyson's Cosmos was considered almost entirely with the subject of biological evolution; naturally, this is not a subject that creationists are happy with, and Answers in Genesis's review of the episode shows that. But, despite everything, Darwin's theory is one of the most well understood and well tested theory in all of science. The only reason people don't accept it, as far as I'm aware, is because they either don't actually understand what the theory is (hence my earlier blog post on it), or they simply refuse to, usually for religious reasons, and can only do this by "interpreting" evidence differently.

I want to make a short disclaimer here first though. I'm not a biologist. My majors were physics and maths, and I did my utmost best to avoid biology at university. I'm not entirely sure why, but hey, what can you do. So my understanding of some of the principles of biology are flawed and I might well make mistakes. Please, please, don't take those as mistakes in the theory of evolution. It's almost certainly a mistake in my own understanding.

But enough of that. Let's get into the review!

Answering Genesis: "Standing Up in the Milky Way"

As most people are probably decently aware, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson is currently airing a rebooting of Carl Sagan's famous Cosmos series. As someone who's very interested in science, loves learning about where we came from and how the universe works, I was very pleased to hear this and have been watching it and, for the most part, thoroughly enjoying it. If you haven't seen it yet, or Carl Sagan's original series, I highly recommend it. It's very educational, brings up a lot of very interesting science, and has a lot of interesting and deep thoughts on where we came from and our place in the cosmos.

Naturally though, seeing as a lot of the topic is the scientific understanding of our past, this made a lot of creationists, well, not very happy. Answers in Genesis has been posting a series with their reviews of the Cosmos series, so I want to take this time to look at their arguments, analyse them and, well, defend the Cosmos against them.

So! Let's begin!

Recipe: Single serve apple crumble

I had a few comments intrigued about a Facebook picture I put up last night of my dessert that I cooked up from an idea that I blatantly stole from MasterChef New Zealand.
Specifically, what the thing on the left is. The short answer is, an apple crumble.

It's a pretty terrible picture really.

Now, you probably have your own various fruit crumble recipes but this is the recipe I more or less used. If you think things can be done better, let me know, I might try it out or I might just change what I've written here. It's all a little sketchy because I was kinda making it up as I went along, but oh well, here goes!

This recipe is just for a single serve. Increase the recipe depending on how many people you want to serve and tada!

2012 Transit of Venus

So, most of you have probably heard vaguely of this, but I suspect most people don't actually know what's going to happen in a few weeks. So, I'll basically say this. The last transit of Venus you'll see in your lifetime (Unless you manage to live for the next 105 years) is going to happen on the 5th or 6th of June (Depending on your timezone). What does this mean? I'll go into more detail in a sec, but basically, the planet Venus is going to pass over the face of the sun, similar to a solar eclipse.

A minor nitpick about SW:ToR story

So, Star Wars: The Old Republic is offering a free trial weekend and I apparently got a whole week of free trial because I don't know why and I fully intend to not be lazy and actually play the game a bit and do a blog like I did with my Rift one the other day, but firstly, I want to make a comment on the story. And why I don't like it so far.

DUN DUN DUNNNNN

Yeah, I know, a lot of people are gushing about how amazing the storytelling is in SW:TOR but there's one huge thing that was bugging me. Firstly though, I just want to make one minor note so that you know the context and so you can abuse me for having not played the game enough: I rolled a Twi'lek Jedi, because it's freaking Star Wars and I can't play a Star Wars game without being a Jedi, and so far, I'm level 4 or so. So no, I've barely made it through anything, not even the start zone yet, so chances are, I'm entirely wrong about what I'm gonna moan about, and it's just the way I'm seeing things from my low levelled vantage point. So why am I posting this as a separate blog post and not just writing a big blog post about my adventures in TOR? I'm not sure, but I kinda want to discuss this and spend a decent amount of time on this and not detract from a blog going on about the game more. Plus, it's a problem that basically every MMORPG suffers from and probably isn't even solvable but it's still one that Bioware should've worked around.

But anyway! That's enough prefacing. Onto my problem!

Journeys into Rift

Aren't I a sexy devil?

So, awhile ago, Trion released their much anticipated game, Rift. But before they did, they released a public beta. Being public, I was like "Hey! Chance to try out the game and see what I think!" So I did. And, well, I didn't like it. Yeah, it wasn't a terrible game but it failed to capture my interest and I never went any further. In part because, well, I hadn't enjoyed the beta, so I wasn't going to shell out the $80 or so for a game I wouldn't play. Well, that was nearly a year ago now and since then, they've (finally) released a trial account. So! I downloaded the client, started it up, made myself a character and decided to have fun!

2011: The year in review

For those of my two readers who don't know, for the last... oh, five or so years, I think? I've reviewed the year from my own point of view. Well, it's nearly that time of year where the earth reaches that arbitrary position relative to the sun where the Gregorian calendar says a new year begins, so! Let's have a look at 2011!

Cleverbot won't make my shield drop.

Disclaimer and backstory: As of this post, I've killed heroic Gunship Battle 15 times, Baleroc 16 times and Asira Dawnslayer 18 times and I've never had their shields drop. Which is annoying. So, Nika suggested I ask Cleverbot how do get a shield to drop. This conversation is what followed. Text in bold is what I said.

3 Reasons Why Christmas Carols Annoy Me

Firstly, I just want to make this clear. I love Christmas. I have nothing against the holiday and what it stands for. I like that we get to take a day out to spend time with family and friends to celebrate whatever your religious affiliations dictate you can and should celebrate. The songs, on the other hand? Can't stand 'em. They annoy the crap out of me. Why? Well, that's why I have a blog! To talk about crap nobody cares about!

The Actually Important Election Question

Firstly, a disclaimer, regarding my political views. I don't support any single party, I use a "I'll pick the party that I dislike the least" sort of system. I'm not going to tell you who I voted for in the last election, or who I'll vote for in this election (Because I don't know yet, although I have a rough idea), and I'm not posting this blog to support any particular political party. This blog isn't intended to be election advertising, is not supported by, funded by, or anything like that by any New Zealand political party. Apart from the copy-pasta from the referendum.org.nz website, this is my own opinion and you're more than welcome to disagree with it.

So, unless you're not from New Zealand, or you've been living under a rock in New Zealand (Also known as Gore), you know there's an election this year. Part of this election is a referendum on our voting system, which I think has received far less coverage than it deserves. See, in my opinion, this referendum is more important than the result of the actual election, because this decides how elections work. For this reason, I think, no matter who you support, you should make an informed decision in this referendum because this is the way we can decide on the fairest way to get the most out of our democracy.

I did a 130k Bloodthirst Crit.

On heroic Staghelm with full concentration trinket, colossus smash, 2-set, pot, Death Wish and Recklessness. My raid leader told me to stop talking about it and I can talk about it in my blog later. So here we are!

I didn't screenshot it, what with me being on progression, but I did draw it on Paint because I can.

Behold, the awesomeness of my artistic talent, and my awesome critting with deliberately aligned buffs! Be jealous, Chibi.

Small update because I'm not dead!

So the thought occurs, I've barely posted in the last month, after spending the month before that posting a lot. It's really entirely down to me being lazy, but I thought I'd make a small update, just to let people know what I'm up to.
Last month was a bit of a busy month for me. I went down to my girlfriend's place (She lives out of town) to see her perform one of her weekly concerts, then the next week, I went to my mum's place to give my final respects to Dinky and put a wee doggy statue on his wee doggy grave. Week after that, my sister came down for the weekend for the last time before I become an uncle, and now this week, I've gone to my girlfriend's place again for no particular reason. So yeah! Been a wee bit busy, but mostly, I'm just lazy!

But! Because I'm lazy, I thought I'd give a few previews for things I wanna post.

• A brief introduction to quantum physics, because one of my friends asked me to.
• Weird trilogue (That's a real word, I swear!) involving a fictional deity.
• A story about a seagull.
• Something about adulthood.
• A form of review of WoW tank classes.

I probably have other things in line. I'm also considering posting one of my fictional story type things up here, because I like posting it on things and maybe, someday, people will actually read it. It's not bad, I swear!

On a slightly more serious note, I've been poking around the stats, and while I haven't had more than, like, 40 views on a single blog post, I have had a few hits from search engines (Mostly to WoW related things) which is very encouraging! I like the fact that people are finding me from googling me.

But yeah. That was a pretty small update. I'll try write more soon, but for now, brb being really lazy.

Update:  Decided I would put up SKI. It's over here!

Holy New Warrior Talents!

So Blizzard announced today, the new Panda-styled talent trees. Since my main is a prot warrior, I'm gonna look at the warrior ones from a tank point of view.

So, firstly, my opinion on the setup of the new talent trees.

1. I like that they're not spec-bound now. Being able to pick and choose which talent I like without being bound to a tree is pretty neat.
2. I would like the change to be a bit more. There are currently 18 talents per tree (6 lots of 3). Something like 24 or even 30 would be nicer (6 lots of 4 or 5), but then you have the problem of making sure all the talents are cool.
3. The biggest problem, I think, is that, in trying to add customisability, they're removing it. It looks right now like there's one talent that's best for each situation and I'm not sure I like that.

With that said, it's an interesting change and I'm looking forward to seeing how it plays out.

And now, a talent by talent look, but first a disclaimer: I know these talents aren't final and are subject to change. It's also somewhat difficult to look at these talents in a vacuum. I assume skills will be changing, or else some of them are just useless.

So! Straight into it! (Images all courtesy of MMO-Champion)

A Eulogy for Dinky

I think, a lot of people don't understand how important pets are to people, but when you've lived with someone for most of your life (Dinky was born just before I turned 5 and I moved out of home, leaving him behind when I was 18, so that's 13 years of my 24 year old life), they're more than just an animal. Animals have feelings and personalities and emotions and all that too, and when you're close to a pet, they're more than a friend, they're a part of your family too. Dinky was never just a dog, he was a brother to me.

Today, at 19 years old, Dinky was put down, due to his massively failing health. I mean, hell, 19 years old is an incredibly good age for a dog to reach, even one of his size (A quick look on Wikipedia puts him at about 100 in dog years). But then again, Dinky always was a bit of a unique and special dog.

5 Popular Songs I Find Unintentionally Kinda Wrong

I listen to a decent amount of music and a lot of popular music annoys me, especially cause there are a few out there that are either kinda wrong if you think about it, or kinda put across a bad message. Sometimes, this is on purpose, but I'm pretty sure, with these 5, it's really not intentional.

And, just as a minor disclaimer, I don't care if you think the songs are brilliant, this is, more or less, my opinion and I'm mostly just being deliberately a knob.