Word: maths
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...undergraduates were recognized for their outstanding achievements and potential in math, science and engineering this week...
...that Harvard students need to know more about quantitative methods. This is not such an unreasonable conclusion given the current tilt in the Core toward the humanities, but one that is likely to elicit a negative reaction from many undergraduates. This is because most people simply do not like math. To a majority of the population (even at Harvard), the word can prompt feelings of terror, fear and even disgust. Indeed, it is a disturbing national trend that ignorance of mathematics is not seen as being embarrassing akin to illiteracy, but rather is to some a source of pride...
Instituting a math requirement at Harvard is something that is important from both a pedagogical and a practical point of view. In order to understand its importance, one must determine the present function of the Core. It serves to introduce students to material outside their field of concentration that they otherwise would not encounter. In this way, the Core serves to ensure that Harvard students receive a true liberal arts education. Beyond just subject matter, we learn about the way academics approach different disciplines, or--in Core-talk--approaches to knowledge. Whether this principle is accepted as the unifying foundation...
...important to remember that the way mathematicians work is quite distinct from the method of scientists. Mathematics does not seek to describe the natural world, and hence can always be perfectly logical and perfectly accurate within its framework. Learning this type of methodology can be useful not only for math or science, but more generally in constructing logical arguments for papers. Beside just the methodology of math, a familiarity with some of the subjects that would be included under a quantitative reasoning requirement (QRR) can also be very useful. The subjects spanned by this field would, like the rest...
...course, the present math courses would still fulfill the requirement, as well as statistics, computer science and perhaps a few economics courses. The goal of the quantitative reasoning requirement is not to make those who didn't love math in high school suffer through the next course in the sequence. Rather, the hope is to the contrary: that those who didn't like math (and even those who did, but planned no further study of it) have a chance to realize the full potential of the quantitative approach to solving problems. In adding quantitative reasoning, the Core would be broadened...