David K Butler

Oh. My. God. Why does everything have to be so fucking complicated?

When there are too many things to do at work, usually I just... don't do them all. It's amazing how many things turn out not to be important after all.

This is absolutely brilliant.

Ohh right. Now that you have algebra, there are problems you can solve that you couldn’t before.
It’s a red queen’s race. Or a pie-eating contest where the prize is more pie.

So now the solution was
125×25÷5+10÷5−9=618

And I could see the distributive law right in front of me and turned it into
(125×25+10)÷5−9=618

Boom!

I wondered if we could use the 25 and thought of 25÷5, which still used the 5 twice but in the same way as it was already used.

In case you were wondering how this solution was made…

Student had written 125×5+10÷5-9=618, riffing off the several solutions already involving 125×5.
But I said we couldn’t use the 5 twice.

I don’t understand what you mean by “the demands are rising to match the tools”.

Even just with the Numbers Game (from Countdown): They’ll write nothing unless it gets to The Answer, even though having a close-ish answer might help them get closer.

Phew yes that’s a big hurdle to overcome. Happens with my university students too.

And also it’s a useful thing to tell high schoolers that the point of algebra is not to make it harder but to make it EASIER.

And my point is that it’s a GOOD thing that algebra reduces cognitive load. It’s GOOD that you can set up an equation and follow through with small steps that will progress you without having to hold it all in your head at once.

Are you telling me that when you solve an equation, you are making a multi-step plan in advance for how to solve the whole thing? Because I certainly am not.

High school algebra is specifically designed to make it possible to think LESS. You want to solve an equation, and you don’t come up with a big plan, you just decide what to do next and worry about what to do after that later. And you write it on paper so you don’t have to hold it in your head.

Wordle 1,726 4/6.

1: b b b b b …
2: b b b Y Y …
3: Y G Y b b …
4: G G G G G …

That was fun! Excellent puzzle getting from Guess 3 to Guess 4.

Here goes…

12 * 18
= 24 * 9
= 24*10 - 24
= 240 -20 -4
= 220 - 4
= 216

Wait.

12* 18
= 6*2*3*6
= 6*6*6
=216 because I happen to know what 6^3 is.

Looking through some family papers today with my brother and came across a description of my great-grandmother, Lottie, who gave birth to at least fourteen children between 1913 and 1933. Lottie’s occupation was listed as HOME MANAGER which seems both remarkably apt and feminist for the time.

Change approved!

*sigh* Trying to figure out my own solutions to work things will always get me into trouble won't it?

A long curving purple-grey stalk grows without leaves directly out of the ground. On the end are at least ten trumpet-shaped flowers made of six curling pink petals. Each has several long stamens sticking out of its mouth.

#bloomscrolling

In the background are many tough green leaves with a prominent central vein and smaller veins coming off at right angles. Where these leaves meet are four frangipani flowers. Each flower has five oval-shaped petals circled slightly in the centre where they overlap. The petals are white at the edge and yellow in the centre.

#bloomscrolling

In the background are many tough green leaves with a prominent central vein and smaller veins coming off at right angles. Where these leaves meet are four frangipani flowers. Each flower has five oval-shaped petals circled slightly in the centre where they overlap. The petals are white at the edge and yellow in the centre.

#bloomscrolling

A long curving purple-grey stalk grows without leaves directly out of the ground. On the end are at least ten trumpet-shaped flowers made of six curling pink petals. Each has several long stamens sticking out of its mouth.

#bloomscrolling

A bright yellow daisy with separated petals and a very fluffy centre. Other daisies in various stages and green leaves are in the background.

#bloomscrolling

A bright yellow daisy with separated petals and a very fluffy centre. Other daisies in various stages and green leaves are in the background.

#bloomscrolling

It's things like this that make me think I am not in spirit an academic. There are a lot of things about academic life I just don't understand or want.

For no reason in particular, I am remembering one of my previous bosses saying that the money from our national teaching award should be used on "nice things for yourself, like going to a conference" and wondering how she didn't see that conferences were just a LOT of work and inconvenience.

Museum sign showing a roaring sabretooth cat. A small child is included for size comparison, and looks like he's about to boop it.

DO NOT BOOP THE KITTY

From among long narrow bright green leaves grows a thin green stalk topped with a spectacular agapanthus blossom made of at least thirty individual flowers. The individual flowers have six blue petals with a purple stripe down the middle and several black-tipped purple stamens. (This blossom is unusual because all the other agapanthuses lost their flowers and set seed wees ago.)

#bloomscrolling