28-Oct-12 WV-Berlusconi threatens Italy's government

[John]

Someone on the Breitbart site wrote:

> If I was incapable of doing little beyond seventh-grade
> math, I sure as heck wouldn't be telling the story for yucks on
> national TV. But it does seem to fit in quite well with his shown
> incompetence in other subjects.

I certainly have to agree with this. When I heard the quote that he
was lost helping his daughter with her 8th grade homework, I was
genuinely shocked.

Once again, this is someone who graduated from Harvard Law School.

This week, Donald Trump offered $5 million if the president would
release his college records and passport application. Like everyone
else, I thought that this was just a cheap political stunt by Trump.
But if he can't do 8th grade algebra, then how well could he have done
at Harvard Law School? Now I think that there's going to be a lot
more to the college records story, though it may not come out for a
while.

Almost makes you wish that Jimmy Carter were back. At least he was an
engineer.

[gerald]

John, your comment regarding the math teacher is not surprising.---

From a different perspective, when in college I had an Iranian friend who came from a very wealthy family. Upon graduation he returned to Iran and taught at the college level ( in the 1980's) upon returning to the US he told me about a major problem with teaching in Iran. Students from wealthy families or those well connected demanded good grades regardless of ability. He said this was very common.

I hope the storm Sandy does not give you too much trouble, it looks like it will be a memorable one, stay safe.

gerald

[OLD1953]

It would always drive my kids crazy when I'd fix errors in their math texts. I'll admit I had to read that quadratic about three times to realize you meant x^2 and not X dot 2 which is utterly different.

You aren't the only one irritated by the attitude of the news organizations nowadays, Superman's had it up to here with infotainment:

http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter- ... rman-issue

I am not surprised to hear Obama has a problem with 8th grade math, most adults do. At least 3/4 of voters would be banned from the polls if they were required to solve a quadratic in order to vote. That said, many of the math "texts" produced now are crappy, full of errors and some very roundabout ways to solve equations. Honestly, I have a hard time understanding some of that nonsense, I simply showed my kids the direct way to get the right answer and why it worked, and they understood that.

We've had a few technically oriented presidents, including one who wrote a published paper while campaigning. But they were exceptions. I doubt any president since Carter has been mathematically competent.

[John]

I hope the storm Sandy does not give you too much trouble, it looks like it will be a memorable one, stay safe.

Everything is wet but otherwise quiet here - so far.

[John]