[sugar] Pippy and Calculate
Mitch Bradley
wmb
Wed Sep 5 13:33:29 EDT 2007
> I don't think Python's evaluations are useful as a calculator to
> a child, though. You would have to explain this:
>
>
>>>> 2+2
>>>>
> 4
>
>>>> 3/4
>>>>
> 0
>
>
When I was in elementary school, we first learned division with
remainder, so the result of 3 / 4 is 0 remainder 3.
Fractions are a more advanced topic, and decimal fractions yet another
level.
I think we are applying assumptions based on "already having learned the
whole wad of mathematics convention" to learners. Mathematics learning
is a process. People are not born with algebraic notation wired in; it
is an artifice like any other language. People are born with the
ability to learn such artifices, but not with a particular one.
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