I don't know as much math as I should, but I often have occasion to wish that more programmers and software engineers knew about things like probability densities and calibration, because that would reduce some crucial inferential distances. I rarely wish more programmers knew more calculus.
I often have occasion to wish that more programmers and software engineers knew about things like probability densities...I rarely wish more programmers knew more calculus.
Does anyone else notice the contradiction here? This is a perfect illustration of my point: a "probability density" is a function whose integral gives you the probability. In fact, not only is the very definition of the object logically dependent on calculus, but understanding why the object exists requires knowledge of measure theory (specifically the Radon-Nikodym theorem)...
This guy says that the problem is that high-school math education is structured to prepare people to learn calculus in their freshman year of college. But only a small minority of students ever takes calculus, and an even smaller minority ever uses it. And not many people ever make much use of pre-calc subjects like algebra, trig, or analytic geometry.
Instead, high-school math should be structured to prepare people to learn statistics. Probability and basic statistics, he argues, are not only more generally useful than calculus, they are also more fun.
I have to agree with him. What do the people here think?