Quote:
Originally Posted by Velvet
Yes, we used slide rulers in engineering because calculators were not invented yet. And I remember a visiting student from India who had the sin and cosine tables in his head and could finish the equations before anyone else. We challenged each other, and had fun. The poor students who just tried to get by on tests etc never enjoyed learning and probably never enjoyed their work later either. I bet Sam Altman, and Elon Musk loved what they were doing, not just trying to get an A.
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I never did well on tests, and never got past Algebra 1, even when we DID have calculators (they showed up when I got into High School). When we got those calculators, my dad would quiz me on the understanding of the math, to make sure I was actually learning the algebraic rules. I didn't learn them. I could plug the info into the calculator and it'd spit out the answer, but I never did learn HOW it worked. I could never apply it.
UNTIL I learned to code. It wasn't until then, that it finally made sense. And that was all done using physical templates, like this one:
Univac Remington Rand Flowcharting Template | National Museum of American History
The visual application of algorithmic expression was the only way I was able to learn it. A calculator spitting out the answer taught me nothing, ever.