# Another attempt at math education

By Murray Bourne, 05 Jul 2006

Reasoning Mind was developed by a Russian mathematician because "he had a dismal opinion of American education, from kindergarten through high school." (TMC.net)

His method is Web-based and uses artificial intelligence to move the student through the learning. Some things that caught my eye:

• "Learning how to think and reason". Great - too much of mathematics is 'Which formula do I plug it in to?'
• "Failure is not an option". It is a mastery-based system which I think is important. Too many students are moved to the next grade but they are certainly not ready - and this sets up problems later.
• "Learning is hard work". Hmmmm

Do any of you use it? Is it good?

### 2 Comments on “Another attempt at math education”

1. michelle says:

hi i know this is stupid but im trying to enter this contest online and i cant figure out the equation. (im really really bad at math) so anyways the equation is
(( (10 + 8 ) x 2 ) - 3 ) + 3
can anybody help me with the answer

2. Murray says:

Hi Michelle

I believe there is no such thing as a stupid question - there is only the stupidity of NOT asking questions 🙂

You may wish to go to 2. Laws of Algebra in Interactive Mathematics where you will see examples very similar to the question you are asking.

### Comment Preview

HTML: You can use simple tags like <b>, <a href="...">, etc.

To enter math, you can can either:

1. Use simple calculator-like input in the following format (surround your math in backticks, or qq on tablet or phone):
a^2 = sqrt(b^2 + c^2)
(See more on ASCIIMath syntax); or
2. Use simple LaTeX in the following format. Surround your math with $$ and $$.
$$\int g dx = \sqrt{\frac{a}{b}}$$
(This is standard simple LaTeX.)

NOTE: You can't mix both types of math entry in your comment.