From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.2 required=5.0 tests=HTML_MESSAGE, MAILING_LIST_MULTI,NICE_REPLY_A autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 14016 invoked from network); 27 Dec 2021 22:00:49 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (45.79.103.53) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 27 Dec 2021 22:00:49 -0000 Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 5DAFB9CFC2; Tue, 28 Dec 2021 08:00:48 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5B7979CEA7; Tue, 28 Dec 2021 08:00:36 +1000 (AEST) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 9E6A49CEA9; Fri, 24 Dec 2021 05:53:09 +1000 (AEST) X-Greylist: delayed 2625 seconds by postgrey-1.36 at minnie.tuhs.org; Fri, 24 Dec 2021 05:53:08 AEST Received: from newtrichead.scotnet.co.uk (newtrichead.scotnet.co.uk [217.16.223.153]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9B1569CE9F for ; Fri, 24 Dec 2021 05:53:08 +1000 (AEST) Received: from [192.168.252.222] (cerberus.scotnetdev.net [80.80.180.1]) (authenticated bits=0) by newtrichead.scotnet.co.uk (8.14.7/8.14.7) with ESMTP id 1BNJ8OXc010035; Thu, 23 Dec 2021 19:08:24 GMT From: Dr Iain Maoileoin To: John Cowan References: <818A6F70-D117-471A-9E08-E37B34F8FAE0@mac.com> <20211223021805.GK24180@mcvoy.com> <20211223141958.GR24180@mcvoy.com> <20211223160011.GS24180@mcvoy.com> <3915e4db-6740-9777-03f4-4c6b4c09045c@csp-partnership.co.uk> <20211223163532.GW24180@mcvoy.com> <0531de6e-6c93-bdde-9ee4-cd4ab1f54e0b@csp-partnership.co.uk> Message-ID: <1dae1721-dede-66e7-4227-a2ac9ba0bda9@csp-partnership.co.uk> Date: Thu, 23 Dec 2021 19:09:18 +0000 User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:78.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/78.5.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: Content-Language: en-US X-Mailman-Approved-At: Tue, 28 Dec 2021 08:00:35 +1000 Subject: Re: [COFF] [TUHS] Photos of University Computer Labs - now off topic X-BeenThere: coff@minnie.tuhs.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.26 Precedence: list List-Id: Computer Old Farts Forum List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Cc: COFF Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="===============5700840646287161017==" Errors-To: coff-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "COFF" This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --===============5700840646287161017== Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="------------19B5717DB798438D3AD594B4" Content-Language: en-US This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------19B5717DB798438D3AD594B4 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit On 12/23/21 6:02 PM, John Cowan wrote: > C _arithmetic_ meant 'number theory', and so the part concerned with > the computation of "ambition, distraction, uglification, and derision" > (Lewis Carroll) was _elementary arithmetic_.  (Before that it was > _algorism_.)  When _higher arithmetic_ got its own name, the > _elementary_ part was dropped in accordance with Grice's Maxim of > Quantity ("be as informative as you can, giving as much information as > necessary, but no more").  This did not happen to _algebra_, which > still can mean either elementary or abstract algebra, still less to > _geometry_. > > In addition, from the teacher's viewpoint school mathematics is a > continuum, including the elementary parts of arithmetic, algebra, > geometry, trigonometry, and in recent times probability theory and Hey that was 50 years ago! topics like Matrices, subjects like Algebra, Geometry, so things like Integration+ Differentiation, integration by parts, simple statistics etc. Arithmetic was of the form "A customer buys 2 pairs of gloves at 1 and 6pence halfpenny per pair and a hat for a crown.  She pays with a guinea; what is the smallest number of coins in change you can give her."  (a guinea was 21shillings, 12 pence in a shilling, a crown was 5 shillings etc etc).  I think I would be better called mental arithmetic.  We had ounces and pounds, and stones and hundredweight.  Inches, hands, feet, yards, chains, furlongs, miles etc.  So perhaps arithmetic was a more required learning? --------------19B5717DB798438D3AD594B4 Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
On 12/23/21 6:02 PM, John Cowan wrote:
C _arithmetic_ meant 'number theory', and so the part concerned with the computation of "ambition, distraction, uglification, and derision" (Lewis Carroll) was _elementary arithmetic_.  (Before that it was _algorism_.)  When _higher arithmetic_ got its own name, the _elementary_ part was dropped in accordance with Grice's Maxim of Quantity ("be as informative as you can, giving as much information as necessary, but no more").  This did not happen to _algebra_, which still can mean either elementary or abstract algebra, still less to _geometry_.

In addition, from the teacher's viewpoint school mathematics is a continuum, including the elementary parts of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and in recent times probability theory and

Hey that was 50 years ago! topics like Matrices, subjects like Algebra, Geometry, so things like Integration+ Differentiation, integration by parts, simple statistics etc.

Arithmetic was of the form "A customer buys 2 pairs of gloves at 1 and 6pence halfpenny per pair and a hat for a crown.  She pays with a guinea; what is the smallest number of coins in change you can give her."  (a guinea was 21shillings, 12 pence in a shilling, a crown was 5 shillings etc etc).  I think I would be better called mental arithmetic.  We had ounces and pounds, and stones and hundredweight.  Inches, hands, feet, yards, chains, furlongs, miles etc.  So perhaps arithmetic was a more required learning?

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