Frazz by Jef Mallett for September 07, 2012

I love the way Mr. Burke calls it, Artisanal Arithmetic! Maybe it can also be consider Old School Math?

Quick, third grade math question……What’s the difference between mean and mode…?

“A feeling of power”!

I use square root all the time. Just calculate a standard deviation without it. But the real reason it is useful is, it is trivial compared to the GOOD stuff – differential geometry, etc.

If nothing else, being able to round the numbers a bit and do a rough approximation in your head will save your butt when you hit the wrong key on the calculator. I run into this all the time in science classes—kids who have no “feel” for the numbers and don’t recognize that the result the calculator gave them is thoroughly absurd.

I was at Walmart yesterday. Proof people need to be able to do math in their head? One brand of sausage was $1.88 for a pound. The two pound economy size was $4.88…

Isaac Asimov (I think) wrote a story about us winning a war with a secret weapon…a guy who could do arithmetic without a calculator.

The unplugged version always rocks.

Square roots by hand? “Synthetic Division” was apiece of cake compared to that!

Try computing the diagonal of a rectangle without one – except for the 3-4-5 cases.

I once tried to buy two candy bars that were three for a dollar. Neither the clerk nor the store manager was able to figure out that I owed 67 cents plus tax.

Taught mine to appreciate maths by bringing coins and asking him how many of each sort he needed to get his pocket money. Any error was his, if he asked too much he would be fined by that amount, if he asked too little… that’s why he should learn simple arithmetics. Strangely enough he now thanks me for it.

Back in the VCR days I was in Blockbuster when the computer that ran the registers wa down. The manager had given each clerk s paper with the total rental amont with tax. When I tried to buy a tape none of the clerks could figure out the 5% sales tax total. They wouldn’t take my word for 1.05 x price (5% sales tax).

How about using a “slip stick?” How many can still use one or for that matter has one?

neatslob, got me! Soputh2North, might as well throw in average, too, although I understand that…..

Haha! Clinton could have used that in his speech the other night. It just might make basic math more appealing to those who like to get “creative” with numbers. ( Is this strip’s prescience expanding from weather to politics?)

Who wouldn’t like to be as smart as their calculator?

I’m reminded of a Readers’ Digest item where the power went out at a fast food joint, took down all the trick registers. Kid behind the counter says, “Well, I guess we’ll have to do this the old-fashioned way,” and pulls a calculator from the till.

ealesef, you win the free Sasparella, if you can figure out who I am, and where I live, but I’m good for it! Good job…..I notice you’re the only one to answer the challenge…

COOLEST. THING. EVER!