[red-beard]

Originally Posted by masraum

I've seen some stuff posted on the 'Net about "new math". Some of it doesn't make much sense at all. Some of it seems like it might maybe be a good way to explain math to much younger kids, and some of it makes a fair amount of sense. What I don't get is what the hell he was talking about. The way he did the subtraction problem seemed really weird to me. The way he explained the new math is basically the way that I've always done it and I'm 47.

Being 47, I missed the slide rule thing, but when I was 12, 13 or 14, my dad brought a Pickett slide rule home (it's sitting on my desk at work right now) and taught me how to use it. To this day, I think I can remember multiplication with the C and D registers. He also taught me different number systems like binary, base 4, base 8 and hexadecimal. I'm pretty sure I wrote a research paper on them. It's funny, because for the past 19 years, I've used the binary knowledge almost daily at work. I also use the hexadecimal a little bit. I'm much less fond of working in hex.

I also taught myself to use a Japanese style abacus. I think they are genius and kids should be taught to use them. I think it would help some folks with math. It's a slightly different way to visualize things.

Tom Lehrer wrote that in the early 1960s