On Feb 18, 4:13*am, Ed Huntress wrote:
On Thu, 16 Feb 2012 05:09:22 -0800 (PST), "

wrote:
On Feb 15, 9:27*pm, Ed Huntress wrote:

I said nothing about that. I said that what YOU said is incorrect --
they don't teach that in "most grade schools."

--
Ed Huntress

Maybe not, *I certainly am not going to try to prove it either way and
doubt if you really know what is taught it most grade schools.

I don't care what you doubt, Dan. You're such a contrarion that you'd
question whether the sun rose in the east this morning.

Search Google with these terms in quotes, on one line: ["round half
up" "grade school"]. You'll see how it's done.

Or search ERIC. It's loaded with references to rounding as it's taught
in 3rd grade math. It's round-half-up. That appears to be true, also,
in Canada and in the UK, based on the ERIC references.

Other methods may be taught in advanced classes, but that's not what
you claimed. You said "most."

*But
one of the Wiki authors *said it was what was taught in most grade
schools.

I didn't see it in the Wikipedia article for "rounding." Where did you
see it?

*And it my opinion it is what ought to be taught in grade
school.

shrug Rounding is taught in most elementary school as a way to
understand place value, as an aid to quick problem-solving, and to
help with some other concepts. If you're going to get into other
methods of rounding, you also need to get into an explanation of
rounding biases, or you're not teaching anything.

I was taught that in high school, and in 5th grade, where I was in a
very advanced class, my teacher introduced the subject of rounding
baises and alternate methods of rounding. That was not in NJ. That was
in PA.

As for what should be taught in math, that's a very interesting
subject. If you want to get into it, search ERIC. Searching inside
your head will just lead you in endless loops.

--
Ed Huntress



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Dan

Sometimes you need to read what I wrote. As I recall I never said
squat about the third grade. I said grade schools. I think that
includes grades up to the seventh grade. Maybe only up to the fifth
grade. They did not have middle schools when I was in school.
Anyway what I was trying to say is they taught rounding in grade
school so one did not get rounding biases. Not in the first grade,
but by the time one graduated from grade school.

You said yourself that you learned this in grade school, but in the
fifth grade in an advanced class. I think they teach how to round
without biasing in somewhere around the fifth to seventh grade.

So do you really know that they do not teach rounding without bias in
most grade schools? Grade school being the first six or eight
grades? I am reasonably sure I learned that before high school.

Dan