tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post6580822023441026416..comments2024-02-24T03:34:18.060-05:00Comments on Stealing Commas: The place of arithmetic in math.chris the cynichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06872875475212333027noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-9717433426454267512015-12-23T10:37:37.932-05:002015-12-23T10:37:37.932-05:00Never might be too strong of a word, but the idea ...Never might be too strong of a word, but the idea is that you hope to never think of it again because you hope you've successfully internalized it to the point that thought isn't necessary.<br /><br />If you're thinking about how you distinguish one letter from the next you're probably not having the best time reading the book. Same with arithmetic, same with conjugation.<br /><br />If you want to say, "The ball is red," you don't want it to be by way of thinking "The ball [the verb "to be" but not in infinitive form, um, present tense indicative so ... am, are, is; That's it! "is"] red." You want to know that the right word is "is" without thinking.chris the cynichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06872875475212333027noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-62350291384945014252015-12-22T21:25:07.794-05:002015-12-22T21:25:07.794-05:00But you don't have think it through at the sam...But you don't have think it through at the same level. The alphabet/phoneme analogy is apt. There are lots of foundational things like this... I can think of several in chemistry, in geology. And it's like when you learn a foreign language, eventually moving from translating to thinking in the language.<br /><br />Lonesparkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16278753827545905559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-79292216568919106942015-12-22T18:07:50.965-05:002015-12-22T18:07:50.965-05:00I don't understand why so many people have thi...I don't understand why so many people have this thing with arithmetic. Why hope never to think of it again? It's not a monster and it can be interesting if you let it, like any other part of math.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07906890777837063836noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-74044158996299779672015-12-20T17:17:25.406-05:002015-12-20T17:17:25.406-05:00If you don't understand how it works, then any...If you don't understand how it works, then anything you build on that foundation is fakery.Firedrakenoreply@blogger.com