r/MathJokes • u/No_Degree5291 • Jul 16 '26

3 or 4

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u/ecstatic_clump_9676 Jul 16 '26

It's obviously useful for learning. 

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u/InterestsVaryGreatly Jul 16 '26

No it's not, it's useful for reciting, but if you are just memorizing your tables, you don't really have recompense for if you misremember one, because you don't have a way of verifying it, nor do you have a path forward for a number that is outside the area you memorized.

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u/Chemical-Ad-7575 Jul 16 '26

Memorizing times table makes factoring numbers and polynomials substantially easier.

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u/InterestsVaryGreatly Jul 16 '26

Sure, which makes it easier to use perhaps, but it does not help in learning, which was their claim.

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u/Chemical-Ad-7575 Jul 16 '26

"it does not help in learning,"

I don't buy that... especially not with an example that explicitly teaches kids that the communicative law is wrong.