2) I've seen people waving around the credentials they have.
3) I've even seen people waving around credentials they
considered getting but don't actually have.
4) Best of all, I've seen people who conceded that what I
was saying was true, but planned on teaching the opposite
anyway.
Help!
I don't think it is desirable or even possible to respond to
the sort of things enumerated above. If/when somebody comes
up with something resembling a scientific argument, we can
discuss it.
Daryl L. Taylor wrote:
Division IS shorthand subtraction. Period. That's its definition.
Hogwash. If that's the definition in your dictionary, you
need a new dictionary, stat.
I own a lot of dicitonaries. They all define division in
terms of the inverse of multiplication ... as they should.
The inverse of addition is subtraction. The inverse of
multiplication is division. They're different. Waaay
different. For starters, subtraction is linear, while
division is intrinsically nonlinear. Get used to it.
============================
Have mercy on the students, will you please?
Authorities wonder why the students have so little "number
sense". Harumph. If the students are taught that division
is just like multiplication, but with subtraction substituted
for addition, it's no wonder they don't understand division
(long division or otherwise).
Suppose there's a test, and the student defines division in
terms of multiplicative inverse. What are you going to do,
mark it wrong?