I agree that the customer seemed to be genuinely trying to help them out. I probably couldn't have done better, but I'd like to find out what I'd need to know to be able to do better.
The calculator thing is definitely interesting. I think some people might be tempted to blame over-reliance on calculators for the lack of math intuition, but I would guess that's not the problem. I suspect that if you take away the calculators people just transfer their trust to a mindlessly-executed pencil-and-paper algorithm.
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winterfish
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Date: 2006-12-12 08:51 pm (UTC)The calculator thing is definitely interesting. I think some people might be tempted to blame over-reliance on calculators for the lack of math intuition, but I would guess that's not the problem. I suspect that if you take away the calculators people just transfer their trust to a mindlessly-executed pencil-and-paper algorithm.