OMG:
Memorization of formulae is the most useless exercise that this university makes you go through for some of the stupidest courses going. I put it to you OMG who is smarter the person who can recite 100 formulas or the person who can apply 100 formulas after looking at it? It's ridiculous how some courses are treated. I didn't come here to become a parrot.
Memorization of formulae is the most useless exercise that this university makes you go through for some of the stupidest courses going. I put it to you OMG who is smarter the person who can recite 100 formulas or the person who can apply 100 formulas after looking at it? It's ridiculous how some courses are treated. I didn't come here to become a parrot.
Posted on
Wednesday, August 8.
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August 8, 2012 at 12:27 PM
The smartest person is the person who came up with the formula, but I agree. The system is set up to discourage true learning and the memorization requirement seems to go a long a way in this sense. Heck, even apart from this one issue, just look at the way the courses are run in general. Most of the process is just getting marks and not actually learning. The system usually incentives this too because ultimately everything is based on marks.
I'm not trying to debase what we have and do recognize that it is the result of compromises, which is fair. However, I will say that the university frequently does not adhere to its on policy of "Why not?" with how conservative and constricted it actually is in terms of the education it provides.
August 8, 2012 at 12:48 PM
I completely agree with everything that has been said above but I'd like to know which course you are referring to.
August 8, 2012 at 1:25 PM
Usually it's not hard to derive the formulas in a given course. It's just easier to memorize them so that you don't have to take a minute or two (or more) to derive them on an exam.
I mean, I guess they could just give us formula sheets but if you know your stuff, usually you already know exactly what to use anyway without looking it up. (Not that I'm even in this boat but still.)
August 8, 2012 at 1:33 PM
@3 I completely agree.
I actually find that most people who "memorize" a bunch of formulas don't actually have that strong of a grasp of the material.
OP, if you don't want to become a parrot you should just learn the theory behind the formula, and use that to get what you need on an exam.
August 8, 2012 at 2:02 PM
agree with OP wholeheartedly
August 8, 2012 at 3:03 PM
As a math student my favorite classes don't involve heavy formula memorization. I'd rather learn something than be a formula monkey
August 8, 2012 at 11:49 PM
Stat 230, Stat 231, any stat class is all memorization rather than the application that it should teach. PMATH courses are to an extent simply chugging out a theorem or definition (though a little more in depth with a memorized proof, but still that's not looking at how it can be used or the implications of it).
August 9, 2012 at 2:22 AM
Here's the problem kids:
Remember in high school when they "made us memorize" certain formulas we thought we shouldn't need to memorize? Of course 5 years down the road I am happy I "memorized" Euler's formula, and "memorized" basic trig properties. Could you imagine working with an electrical engineer that didn't know ohm's law?
Depending on how deep you go in the area, the forumlas you memorize wil be used all the time and become ingrained in other work you do.
August 9, 2012 at 10:05 AM
@3 & 4 Exactly. If you actually memorize them, you have a mental equation sheet which doesn't require any deep understanding to use. They don't want that, they want to see deep understanding. Trust me, if you understand the material you'll never need to memorize formulae.
August 9, 2012 at 11:32 AM
I used to say this but really if you have a deep understanding of the material you don't need to memorize the formulas.
August 9, 2012 at 3:30 PM
It's posts like these that give me hope for true education and why I view this site.
August 9, 2012 at 4:27 PM
This makes University more competitive and disallows talented slackers to succeed in the system.
If you have strong work ethic, there's no need to be upset about not being given the formulas; it's something to be thankful about so your work ethic can be reflected more heavily in your final grade.
August 9, 2012 at 4:47 PM
natural talent + minimal work ethic >>> pure work ethic.
August 10, 2012 at 8:59 AM
You're complaining about the formulas in STAT 230 and 231? Oh please. ANd if you worked through enough problems you should have most of them memorized pretty well. And seriously, the people who have it the worst for memorization are the health/bio students.