Comments on: Why Johnny can’t multiply

By: Lovin

Lovin — Thu, 30 Jun 2005 22:52:41 +0000

hee-

Yes, but apparently your personal stereotype of “they’re all straight men or lesbians” is alive and well.

sorry i’m blanking out here…which post did I say women are lesbians? I’ve said a lot of outlandish things but I’m not recalling this one?

By: Hee

Hee — Thu, 30 Jun 2005 22:47:07 +0000

I guess my dreams of developing other Indian stereotypes such as “they’re tall” or “they’re great w/ the ladies” are never going to come true

Yes, but apparently your personal stereotype of “they’re all straight men or lesbians” is alive and well.

By: Lovin

Lovin — Thu, 30 Jun 2005 21:57:27 +0000

one of the best things my mom ever did to teach me numbers was to play snakes n ladders and help me visualize the numbers as physical objects rather than mental concepts. Then from there she taught me the concepts of addition, subtraction multiplication all w/ the same board. though it only went up to 100, it still helps me as of today to visualize numbers and do quick calcs in my head…it’s almost like constantly figuring out where the number should be on a game board and just visualizing a 10×10, 20×20 etc board. i don’t know if something like this works for anyone as well

By: DesiDancer

DesiDancer — Thu, 30 Jun 2005 19:55:42 +0000

I’m not so old, but in elementary school we had harsh math drills on the “times tables”, memorizing multiplication up to 13s… I don’t know what they do these days, but are multiplication tables a thing of the past?

By: Lovin

Lovin — Thu, 30 Jun 2005 19:51:24 +0000

this isn’t going to help us shake our stereotypes anytime soon…..I guess my dreams of developing other Indian stereotypes such as “they’re tall” or “they’re great w/ the ladies” are never going to come true

By: Krishnan

Krishnan — Thu, 30 Jun 2005 18:32:27 +0000

I learnt my tables by rote in India) and could tell any number upto 25 tmes 25 on the spot. That was 55 years ago. Later I went to work in Nigeria where the people considered us Indian professional accountants as coming in from heaven seeing our ability to tote up numbers real fast.

But fifteen years in Nigeria, the increased use of calculators and computers and most importantly change in job specifications ensured that my skills with numbers declined steadily. Today I habitally reach for a calculator, mostly in my computer even for routine additions.

It is necessary to have continuous application of these mental skills to keep them alive. When negotiating million dollar deals I can figure out the interest or other costs in a flash with my old skills. But I have no need to do routine totalling etc nowadays.

By: BJ

BJ — Thu, 30 Jun 2005 18:27:01 +0000

Reminds me of the time when I paid $10 and 13 cents for a $5.13 drive-thru bill and the girl at the window, got all confused, stared at her computer, stared at me, stared at the computer again, looked down at the money again, and then said "Keep this change, sir" and then proceeded to give me the $4.87 too. She then with a confident smile said "It was $5.13 and not $10.13, sir"

The shock made my foot take almost 5 whole seconds to let go of the brake and move on ...

By: sunil laxman

sunil laxman — Thu, 30 Jun 2005 16:56:04 +0000

OK……I’m pretty pleased to be linked from Sepia (one of my fav. blogs)!

That aside…I think the American system also used to have a lot of these basic drills, atleast till the 60′s. My boss (a 60 year old scientist) is fantastic with numbers in his head……..but none of my collegues can manage it. Most of us (Indian grad students) do a lot of the sums in our head, while some of my collegues reach out for the calculators for dividing 48 by 8. I believe there is an important place for some “rote learning” in primary education, perhaps up to middle school.

By: Michael H.

Michael H. — Thu, 30 Jun 2005 15:31:14 +0000

Sunil Laxman write an excellent blog: Balancing Life. Check out his previous posts on child slavery, the perfect dosa, and the bakeries of Bangalore.

By: Prema

Prema — Thu, 30 Jun 2005 14:53:47 +0000

The arithmetic skills of the roadside vegetable sellers in mumbai are absolutely astounding. Even the little boys will be mentally adding up all the "Pau Kilo"prices and will come up with your total in seconds when the convent-educated memsaab will be grimacing with all the numbers in her head. It is so unfortunate that these kids will never have a chance to put their skills to better use.

Premlata