Quote: (11-19-2011 02:51 PM)Beyond Borders Wrote:
Quote: (11-19-2011 02:20 AM)gringochileno Wrote:
Quote: (11-19-2011 12:35 AM)Beyond Borders Wrote:
Yeah, I got it now - I looked it up and read about the "order of operations."
That said, I hardly think this qualifies as an example of "idiocracy." I don't remember ever learning about this, and I'm sure it's a common mistake. Is the girl a math teacher? Or just a teacher?
It's 4th or 5th grade math.
And people remember what they learned in 4th or 5th grade because why? My point is that unless someone deals with math on a regular basis, there's no reason for them to remember this.
Using someone else's ignorance to prove what you already believe about the general population is easy. Bottom line, however, is that most people would get this wrong simply because they don't use it on a regular basis, if ever at all.
Not to mention that in mathematical situations the vast majority of people have been in, the parentheses, etc, would have been used to eliminate ambiguity. So their past experience hasn't given them reason to know.
In fact, I'd venture that saying "doesn't know the order of operations" + female + has kids = "females with kids are stupid" is far more ignorant than not knowing/remembering this rule in the first place.
I never said that females with kids are stupid, I just pointed out that of the females in my age range on my facebook friend list, the ones who have kids already aren't the sharpest light bulbs in the rowboat factory.
Also, I'm pretty sure you'd need to be aware of operator precedence to get through high school math. And there's something to be said for wanting to know damn sure that you have the answer right before you post it as a facebook status update.