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by sardonicbryan 3639 days ago
I would agree if she didn't want to learn calculus or linear algebra, but I think long division is a pretty fundamental skill in today's world. How much is my monthly car payment going to be if I take this loan? What is my share of the rent in this house? What are the consequences of running up a credit card balance?
1 comments
gwilkes 3639 days ago
No, sorry it's not a fundamental skill in the least. It's a method for dividing on paper. In 37 years I've never used it outside of school as I have calculator in my pocket as does everyone else (smartphone obviously). Furthermore, "In the United States, long division has been especially targeted for de-emphasis, or even elimination from the school curriculum..." according to Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_division
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xanderstrike 3639 days ago
To clarify even though it's probably too late. She couldn't do division or multiplication of any size in her head, and was fuzzy on what occasions to use them in. For example, if you said "pay me back over 3 years for this $30,000 car", she might first multiply it by 3, get a very large number and then try dividing it and decide that's the right answer.

People are getting hung up on the fact that I said "long division" but it was basically anything beyond addition and subtraction.

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tmptmp 3639 days ago
You are right, long division is not very fundamental but the concept of division is.

I have addressed this issue in a comment in a thread here [1].

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12034345

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