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Boys Aren't Better at Math

Tue, 12/20/2011 - 13:07
Submitted by Carlin Ross

When I was a girl, I was a math whiz.  I loved algebra, calculus, and physics.  People would walk up to my parent's fridge and assume my report card was in fact my brothers. I was told god must have made a mistake in making me a girl (the implication was that I was too smart NOT to be a boy).

Well, it turns out that girls are just as good at math as boys:

"In many countries, there's no gender gap at all both at the average and very high levels of performance. Some countries, including the United States, do show a gender gap, but that gap has decreased substantially over the last few decades, and some test scores suggest American girls have already caught up to their male counterparts."

The gender gap is created by treating children differently - having lower expectations for girls and stearing them towards the humanities. There's no biological mechanism that makes boys better at math.

Sex, Politics & More Sex

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Girls are doing better at

Tue, 12/20/2011 - 20:05
Jake E

Girls are doing better at nearly every subject than boys at the moment with the exeption of maths. Is being good at maths the intelligent option when computers can do it much better than us. If we understand mathamatical principles, with a computer we can verify the judgements of our intuition. Architects design intuitively on a computer and the software corrects the flaws in their intuition. 

Delusions of Gender

Tue, 12/20/2011 - 22:48
Fond Care

There is a great discussion of this subject in a book by Cordelia Fine called "Delusions of Gender". She points out that a great many of the so-called differences between the sexes dissolve on closer inspection. The sources of difference are mainly cultural/social, even from before birth. Studies have shown you can influence a woman's (and a man's) math performance downwards by getting her to read an article before the test that indicates women do worse at math, and upwards by the article indicating women are equally able at math.
Differences such as empathy and intuition also dissolve under close examination. But the influence of culture is way stronger and more pervasive than we usually understand.

Jake, it's important to know what to plug into the computer

Sat, 12/24/2011 - 14:55
Heylin

Knowing math is important and some things one should be able to do in one's head. Figuring percentages, having a knowledge of fractions (things are the maths my husband leaves me to figure, btw), figuring dosages for medications (I have to be able to calculate the correct number of pills that should be dispensed which can be trickly when someone has to take 3 pills twice a day for 6 months which works out to 180 with 5 refills or 540 with 1 refill depending on the patient's insurance- but I admit to using a calculator to figure out the 90 day supply), converting units of measure, and countless other things.
Getting into higher math, it's important to understand the concepts and equations so that you can eyeball the answer to see if it makes sense.
I have trouble figuring some things out when there is a lot of noise going on at work. I hate when I actually get the right answer but can't actually grasp it as correct because the noise just makes me confused. I'm thinking some refresher math classes are in my future. I told my younger daughter that the most important thing about math is to do the homework. Math is a skill and practice makes perfect.

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