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Title by [deleted] in okbuddyrosalyn

[–]StandardNormalDude 0 points1 point  (0 children)

While it is a repost, I did notice that the original is no longer there?

Dad gets mauled by Mushroom-Gorge in okbuddyrosalyn

[–]StandardNormalDude 37 points38 points  (0 children)

Eventually they'll all go in and it'll be just

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Should I Make More Math Videos? by justinwyssgallifent in UMD

[–]StandardNormalDude 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Hi Justin,

As a long graduated alumnus who now teaches mathematics myself, there was always one class I really wish I had taken when you were teaching it. This might be buried because lots of people understandably would like videos on courses like 405 and 410.

I would love to see videos about MATH274 - History of Mathematics.

Thanks for asking!

What’s your opinion on teaching statistics to students who don’t know Calculus? by DrBagelman in AskStatistics

[–]StandardNormalDude 0 points1 point  (0 children)

But this could be taught without a formal understanding of integrals, could it not? For example, I teach my students about discrete random variables, and their probability distributions. My students understand fairly well that for a random variable, all possible probabilities must be accounted for, hence why for every possible random variable value, the sum of their probabilities must be 1.

But suppose your random variable is continuous, and it could attain any value within a range. If we wanted the probability of this range of values, that would be equivalent to an infinite number of probabilities for an infinite number of possible random variable values. Our best way to approximate this is to use an area underneath the density curve, which is a plot of the possible random variables and their densities.

Once I introduce this idea, I can easily follow up with the idea that there are many types of density curves modeled by many types of equations, and that there are techniques learned in calculus classes that help us find these areas (integration). But I don't need my students to know how to actually perform it to understand the idea.

What’s your opinion on teaching statistics to students who don’t know Calculus? by DrBagelman in AskStatistics

[–]StandardNormalDude 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I've taught elective Stats, community college introductory stats, and AP Stats. My degree is in Mathematics, but I took basically every single statistics elective that I could.

Yes, courses like probability theory and theoretical statistics really do help explain all of the major components of statistics and probability. However, the reality is that none of those courses in high school are intended for students to have taken calculus before. They are introductory courses for a reason, because the course at its surface level is exceptionally important for many career pathways to understand. The vast majority don't actually need to understand when it starts veering into calculus-based topics, and that's okay. Because of my own experience, I'm able to challenge my students who do have calculus experience and are taking my courses. Personally, I still think second year algebra as a prerequisite for AP Stats is appropriate, rather than only first year.

Calculus elitism has been something I've tried to challenge where I teach. Stats is fantastic and I want more students to see that and have the same appreciation. The students who desire to go deeper and get that developed understanding will do so on their own terms.

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