Mosquito fish do as well as college students at a basic math test.
I think, but am not sure, that this is part of the academic bubble.
And on a related question, why do we study math and the Brits study maths? And what do the mosquito fish call it?
15 thoughts on “Before Or After They Get Hammered?”
Comments are closed.
Brits consider “maths” to be the ‘proper’ abbreviation of the study of “Mathematics”, which is in and of itself a plural word. Or maybe they study both “old math” and “new math”? We only need to worry about “new math” over here.
At least, that’s the way I understand it. I’ve never asked any of them before.
That’s true, mathematics is a plural word. Old vs New. I have no idea what “new” maths is! It was an experiment tried in the UK on a limited basis in the ’60s. I avoided it but one of my brothers had to endure it. I believe it eventually just disappeared and no one has mourned its loss.
I have never really understood what Americans mean by “new” math; it seems to be used as a pejorative term. Perhaps someone can explain it!
Actually its not really a math test discussed in the article, but a perception test, i.e. basically which one is better at estimating which group has more members then another.
So in accord with the Dilbert principle, are these fish cubicle workers or management?
Thomas it is a math test… which fraction is larger. You can be management.
Ken, that’s valuable HR skill being demonstrated there. He can tell the difference between fish and college students just from a description of their skills and qualifications summary.
HR is so dear to my heart. I got thanks but no thanks letter from HR once. That in itself was not so unusual, but this letter came after I was hired.
They can be forgiven however, in those days I used to create my own position that didn’t exist by talking directly with the person that mattered. I find HR isn’t really cool with that.
I said “do the math” the other day and someone try to correct me.. immediately after he said “do the maths” he regretted it and declared the original better. It’s an idiom, so the term has already entered into the lexicon.
The “new math” showed up in the early sixties as a somewhat misbegotten attempt to acquaint students with the concept of mathematics done in terms of numbering systems other than the prevailing standard of ten. This was justified as an attempt to prepare kids for the fabulous new world of digital computing that used binary manipulation for all its calculations. Whether it served to interest kids more in computing is debatable since those who were not already keen on learning what made computers tick could not have cared less. Neither did their teachers so the study of binary numbers became rapidly confined to specialized courses in digital computation. A hilarious commentary on new math was recorded by the inimitable Tom Lehrer back then. Google it for some good giggles.
Here you go, Andy. Problems in math for grade-school students:
1965:
A peasant sells a bag of potatoes for $10. His costs amount to 4/5 of his selling price. What is his profit?
1975:
A farmer sells a bag of potatoes for $10. His costs amount to 4/5 of his selling price, that is, $8. What is his profit?
1975 (new math):
A farmer exchanges a set P of potatoes with set M of money. The cardinality of the set M is equal to 10, and each element of M is worth $1. Draw ten big dots representing the elements of M. The set C of production costs is composed of two big dots less than the set M. Represent C as a subset of M and give the answer to the question: What is the cardinality of the set of profits?
1985:
A farmer sells a bag of potatoes for $10. His production costs are $8, and his profit is $2. Underline the word “potatoes” and discuss with your classmates.
Is that the Quayle spelling I see? Where’s the vitriol? Don’t try to tell me that ‘s’ on the end makes the difference. You’re just trying to confuse the issue with facts. Fax have no places in mathsesusess.
Ken,
It has nothing to do with fractions. Read where the article actually described the basis of the test…
[[[Imagine walking into a room with two piles of red balls. If you were told one pile had 50 balls and the other pile had 100, then you could probably identify which pile was which with ease. But what if one pile had 50 balls and the other pile had 60? It might be more difficult to see the difference.]]]
Its just a variation of the old guess the number of jelly beans in the jar game… Basically its perception test of determining which pile is bigger.
I’ll buy that. Still it’s interesting that the performances and degradation of performances were comparable. When those colleges student graduate they may find the fish have taken their jobs.
More in line with the title of the post, might there be something relevant to the fact that unlike college students, fish don’t drink like fishes?
Absent from the story was any mention of who did the research (and, no, “scientists” isn’t specific enough). This sounds like a university research program. Most university research is conducted by graduate students. If that’s the case, how reliable is the entire study?