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by Jtsummers 1702 days ago
> Given that (unlike foreing languages) math can be explained WITHOUT having to teach a new notation, then why don't we do it?

Can you explain, say, orbital mechanics, without math notation? In a way where someone can determine where a satellite will be at a particular time given its position and velocity at a prior time taking into account disturbances to the ideal orbit caused by the Moon and Sun (we'll stick with just those 2 and pretend the Earth itself is a perfect sphere).

I don't mean explain in a pop-sci sense. That's actually feasible with very little math (though you will probably want some diagrams), I mean explain in a way that the audience can then apply this math-but-not-in-math-notation to solve real world problems.

1 comments

Again, you are assuming that math is only done at the frontier.

I don't care about the frontier, I care about improving standards of living and quality of life, and that you can do by moving the needle in a concrete manner for HS and college math proficiency.

Not to mention that the satellite operations you mention will benefit a lot thanks to a higher standards of living/quality of life which are synthetized in the GDP metric.

One can only imagine the GDP growth that would happen if math proficiency levels were to suddenly become on par with coastal China.

At that point the satellite operations you'd speak of would become much smoother without even needing to move the math frontier forward.

You'd see collapsing costs everywhere ranging from personnel, raw materials, building operations, security and so forth.