Dear Higgie,
Higgenbotham wrote:
> I think both of them could if you laid the equation out that is to
> be solved, explained what a, b, and c are, then gave them the
> quadratic formula. Otherwise, if they haven't used the formula in
> the past year, I doubt either would remember it.
> If you put an equation in front of them like x2 - 4x - 21 = 0, and
> asked them to give both solutions in less than 15 seconds by just
> looking at it, I doubt either of them could do it. I would wonder
> what fraction of the US adult population could. Maybe somewhere
> between 0.1 and 1%?
I believe that what Obama said is that he can't solve a quadratic
equation no matter how much time he has, even with his daughter's
textbook in front of him.
Recall that the quadratic formula contains a square root sign. Could
Obama, or any but 1% of the politicians, be able to answer the
question, "To the nearest integer, what is the square root of 10?" I
doubt it.
I realize that solving quadratic equations is not in the job
description to be president. But I'm making a deeper point. I've
written hundreds, perhaps thousands, of times expressing enormous
contempt for politicians who don't have the vaguest clue what's going
on in the world. I've had a "scorched earth" policy for politicians
in America and in Europe, on the left and on the right, and for
so-called "experts" on CNBC and Bloomberg TV. If I had to pick one
that epitomizes the greatest stupidity of all, it would be Nobel Prize
Winner Paul Krugman.
Obama's remark to Leno really crystallized my thinking on this point.
If he's unable to help his daughter solve a quadratic equation -- even
while sitting with his daughter, with all the time in the world, and
with the quadratic formula right in front of him in his daughter's
textbook -- then how can he have any clue what's going on in the
world?
To understand what's going on in the world, then you have to
understand the difference between cause and effect, between causation
and correlation, as well as simple logical reasoning. All of that
would be well beyond someone who can't figure out how to help his
daughter's algebra homework.
** System Dynamics and the Failure of Macroeconomics Theory
** http://www.generationaldynamics.com/cgi ... acro061025
Higgie, you'll recall the above article that I posted in 2006. You
wrote to me at the time that you had no trouble solving Sterman's
system dynamics problem.
So you'll understand how serious the situation is. Sterman's problem
requires no more mathematics than the ability to count to 100. But it
does require the ability to do simple logical reasoning, much simpler
than the logical reasoning that a President would have to do every
day. But most MIT students get it wrong, and many are completely
stumped. It's totally hopeless among mainstream politicians and
economists. No wonder they all sound like idiots, and make decisions
and reach conclusions that reflect their innate idiocy.
This weekend, we have the European leaders in Brussels trying to
figure out how to solve the financial crisis. Can you imagine a
dumber bunch of baboons doing that?
Mathematics is a big part of Generational Dynamics theory, and I
personally don't believe that anyone who can't help his daughter solve
a quadratic equation, or who can't solve Sterman's simple system
dynamics problem, should be trusted to make any decisions more
complicated than whether they want pickles with their hamburgers.
Today we have Gen-Xers with no experience, absorbed with hatred of
Boomers and thus unwilling to learn from the experience of Boomers,
and incapable of anything close to logical reasoning, making
decisions. No wonder history is littered with catastrophes, with the
next catastrophe right around the corner.