[aeonsky]

I guess its just anecdotes at this point, not data. But all my peers and friends from different schools, were solving quadratic equations in 4th grade in USSR/Russia. This was early 90's. I then studied in Canadian and US high schools and it took me until 9th grade to start learning any new math again at school.

[p1esk]

In Soviet Union, quadratic equations were introduced in 7th grade, not 4th [1], so if you did in fact study them in 4th grade your experience is not typical. And while American 7th grade program does not cover quadratic equations, it includes intro to probability and statistics, which is far more useful in real world, and which was not covered in Soviet math classes until much later (if at all).

[1] http://fremus.narod.ru/schoolbk2.html#mat2

[saagarjha]

> And while American 7th grade program does not cover quadratic equations, it includes intro to probability and statistics

Depends on your program, of course. I did quadratic equations in 7th grade, and the first class that actually did any non-trivial probability was in 10th grade.

[zozbot234]

But how can they teach probability and stats without any calculus or real analysis? Are they just teaching a few cookbook formulas and leaving it at that?

[p1esk]

You really don’t need any calculus to learn all you will ever need to know about probability and statistics.