Ron Posted February 5, 2007 Report Share Posted February 5, 2007 They teach decimals in US schools right? That's not just a Canadian thing? I ask because my girlfriend was on this weight-loss site and found this thread. While it's surprising that someone wouldn't know what a decimal means, I find it shocking that there's at least 4 of them in a row... and not one person on this board could ring in with a definitive answer. :confused: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whooter Posted February 5, 2007 Report Share Posted February 5, 2007 They must be losing weight from their brains... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thrillho Posted February 5, 2007 Report Share Posted February 5, 2007 OMG:bh Things like that just really make you wonder. This line just keeps cracking me up... "there are 10-10s in a whole but 16 0z in a lbs......so am still not getting it" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GunnerX Posted February 5, 2007 Report Share Posted February 5, 2007 OMG!!! That's hilarious!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenMonkey Posted February 5, 2007 Report Share Posted February 5, 2007 Unfortunately a lot of America is this math impaired. Reminds me of listening to people in class try to read, or reading papers that they've written. Many of them are pretty mediocre, and they're college students. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Posted February 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2007 It's kind of amusing, in a "really??? wtf..." kind of way... but it's also kind of a depressing reminder of the state of our society... I mean, in what grade do they teach decimals? (Just found this link, which states that children learn decimal notation in the third grade.) Maybe I'm reading too much into this... hey, what else am I going to do... work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenMonkey Posted February 5, 2007 Report Share Posted February 5, 2007 To be fair, one of them was just confused at what .1 of 16 ounces was. As in, they couldn't figure out that it is 1.6 oz. That's more of a multiplication of decimals thing which is a leetle bit tougher. Kind of. It's still sad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Posted February 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2007 I suppose... it still makes me wish it was a bit harder to get online... cull the herd a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisBardon Posted February 5, 2007 Report Share Posted February 5, 2007 To be fair, using decimal notation with imperial measures is pretty counterintuitive (trying to express a base 16 concept in base 10). Still, a lot of people are pretty math stupid-how do they deal with decimals in currency? Now, if the US would get on board with the metric system, everything would make much more sense Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Posted February 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2007 They could at least jump on board with Canada's mish-mash of metric & imperial measures. Perhaps a primer: Distance - centimeters/meters/kilometers or inches/feet/yards/miles (height is almost always in feet, inches) Weight (person) - lbs Weight (food/small things) - grams/kilos or oz/lbs Volume - millileters/liters or oz Time - metric hours (100/day) or imperial hours (24/day) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan_E Posted February 5, 2007 Report Share Posted February 5, 2007 Being the smart ass that I am, I would have posted that .1 meant you didn't wipe hard enough before getting on the scale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starhawk Posted February 5, 2007 Report Share Posted February 5, 2007 LOL, that's hialarious! Thanks for the link! I actually feel sorry enough to join the forum and post the answer. Eh, maybe not Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Camp Posted February 5, 2007 Report Share Posted February 5, 2007 I actually feel sorry enough to join the forum and post the answer. Eh, maybe not That wouldn't be any fun. Join the forum and perpetuate the difficulty of the .1 puzzle. That would be great. I would have posted that .1 meant you didn't wipe hard enough before getting on the scale. That's good too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Posted February 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2007 That wouldn't be any fun. Join the forum and perpetuate the difficulty of the .1 puzzle. That would be great. I think you'd have to come up with a completely different explanation for the meaning...like: "Hey, I heard that the number after the dot is how confident the scale is in its guess of your weight. Everyone knows these things aren't completely accurate, right? I mean, you have to go to the doctor to get a proper weighing... so the scale can only guess, and it rates (between 0 and 10), how confident it is with its guess. So I think if it says something like 220.8, it's pretty sure that you weigh 220. But if it says 220.0, it has no idea what you weigh, and it's just pulling the number out of its ass..." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orpheus Posted February 6, 2007 Report Share Posted February 6, 2007 My assumption is that .3 is 3 tenths! However, it seems to logical. Maybe I am just guessing. I dont know. That is my educated guess. Any other thoughts? Sounds like anything other than educated. Thanks for the orignal link, this made me both smile and shake my head in frustration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.