Word Problems in Maths
In The Joy of x , Steven Strogatz talks of something all of us have struggled with in maths: word problems. Translating them into maths equations is quite a challenge for many. Ironic, isn’t it, that kids and parents complain that academics has no connection to the “real world”, but that’s what word problems are… The root cause of why many struggle with word problems in maths is: “(They involve) thinking not just about numbers, but about relationships between numbers… (and of course) relationships are much more abstract than numbers.” But they still need to be understood, if not mastered: “(Relationships) are also much more powerful. They express the inner logic of the world around us. Cause and effect, supply and demand, input and output, dose and response - all involve pairs of numbers and the relationships between them.” Calvin, on the other hand, raises a different issue with word problems: Jokes aside, Calvin’s point is the same as what Keith...