To all, I am not surprised that I did not receive a response from either my present Georgia State House of Representatives member not his challenger. Although I thought it was a cute little idea, it probably appeared to be some kind of a trick to get them out on a limb. I believe that the typical adult has little or no remembrance of how to determine a lowest common denominator, using either mathematics or reason. My intent was to show how long it would take to add up the length of a line that is virtually exactly the same length, one using fractions as used in the inch and the other adding millimeters. I have used this with friends and acquaintances and nobody has ever taken the time to get the 63/64ths. They always give up and then go to the easy number and add the 25 whereupon I finally tell them that they just added up 25 millimeters. When using it in face to face situations, they always have been able to see both columns side by side. I had hoped to be able to use it to demonstrate the futility of continuing the overuse of fractions in daily American life. Norm ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ma Be" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: 2000October22 13:00 Subject: [USMA:8700] Re: Impact of mathmatics education on total education > One other "problem" I saw with this exercise was the considerable "skewness" between them. In order for it to be "fairer" you would have to use a similar # of digits for both of them, e.g. if you say 1/16, you should counter with, say, 243 (or 14, whatever), or something to that effect. > > Marcus > > On Fri, 20 Oct 2000 11:55:48 James R. Frysinger wrote: > >I don't know who was addressed in your original message, Norm, but I > >presume it was some official in DeKalb County's school administration. > > > >You inadvertently (perhaps) provided a very simple exercise in the first > >step. The sum is 63/64 because the series is > >1/64+2/64+4/64+8/64+16/64+32/64 which is (2^7-1)/64. Another way of > >looking at it is that by adding an additional 1/64 to the stack and then > >accumulating upwards, one has 64/64 from which the temporary 1/64 must > >now be subtracted, leaving 63/64. > > > >Jim > > > >Norman Werling wrote: > >> > >> Gentlemen: > >> > >> I am an age 64 registered voter living in Georgia House District 64. I am > >> vitally interested in the education of DeKalb's children as well as that of > >> my grandchildren who all live elsewhere but mostly in Georgia. > >> > >> I would ask both of you to humor me and complete the following exercise. > >> Then do me the honor of replying with total honesty and without any > >> preconceived notions. Agreed? > >> > >> Step one is to add the following: > >> 1/64 > >> 1/32 > >> 1/16 > >> 1/8 > >> 1/4 > >> 1/2 > >> ------- > >> > >> ------- > >> > >> How long did it take you to add them.? ___minutes and___seconds. > >> > >> Do not scroll down further until you have done the problem and answered the > >> question with your best recollection of the time needed to answer. Be fair > >> now! > >> > >> Now add the following: > >> 1 > >> 2 > >> 4 > >> 5 > >> 6 > >> 7 > >> ----- > >> > >> ----- > >> > >> How long did it take you to add them? _____minutes and _____seconds. > >> Do not scroll down until you have done the problem and answered the question > >> with your best recollection about the time needed to answer. Be fair now! > >> > >> After you have done both and filled in the blanks, just hit "reply" and send > >> it back to me. Then we can talk about it via email or telephone, whichever > >> you prefer. > >> > >> Thank you for participating, > >> > >> Norman V. Werling > >> 1240 Hunters Drive > >> Stone Mountain, GA 30083-2545 > >> 404-292-9328 > > > >-- > >Metric Methods(SM) "Don't be late to metricate!" > >James R. Frysinger, CAMS http://www.metricmethods.com/ > >10 Captiva Row e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Charleston, SC 29407 phone/FAX: 843.225.6789 > > > > > > > Angelfire for your free web-based e-mail. http://www.angelfire.com >
