kitchen table math, the sequel: 98 jobs that need ratio and proportion

Friday, March 16, 2007

Tex said...: Oh, I love this site!

Now I’ll have somewhere to go to back me up when I have to counter those folks who will insist they don’t need algebra to do their job.

And to help me understand why some of these people sometimes do such a lousy job. My latest experience involves a customer service rep who could not fully explain the conversion of my reward points to dollar value for travel costs. Apparently, his cheat sheet told him 20,000 points equals $200. I was silly enough to ask, “So, 100,000 points will cover $1,000, right?” And his response was to keep repeating what his cheat sheet said, over and over. Oh well, I guess he just needs a more detailed cheat sheet.

“You don’t need to know multiplication tables, because you can always use your calculator.”; March 17, 2007 at 5:22 AM
Catherine Johnson said...: And when you get to my stage in life, where I have a parent completely dependent on medical personnel, it's frightening.

I have to say, though, that so far I haven't personally seen nurses who weren't proficient in the math they need to know.

We all have to depend on people's ability to learn on the job.; March 17, 2007 at 6:20 AM

kitchen table math, the sequel