Jeb Bush Stumped By Math Question

[Checkmite]

So EVEN if you don't remember your trig or geometry and you have no clue what an arcsin is. IF you've ACTUALLY worked for a living you would instantly know that 3, 4, 5, gives a right angle triangle.

In my rather short life thus far I've built two decks, one vegetable garden, cut and installed 4 interior doors, rebricked a portion of a basement wall, installed a new screen door (after re-squaring the jamb), and helped a friend build a complete bedroom extension on his house. While being aware of the 3-4-5 = right triangle trivia, I've never once employed it.

Of course, I never did any of that stuff for a living, so I suppose technically you can still claim to be correct.

 

[LostAngeles]

No job I've ever worked in has required me to know 3-4-5 triangles. But I know them.

I've also never been required to know that when you have a right triangle, the other two angles will always be less than 90 degrees, but I know it and could infer it from the knowledge that a triangle always ads up to 180 degrees.

Then again, I've had some damn good math teachers.

 

[aerocontrols]

In my rather short life thus far I've built two decks, one vegetable garden, cut and installed 4 interior doors, rebricked a portion of a basement wall, installed a new screen door (after re-squaring the jamb), and helped a friend build a complete bedroom extension on his house. While being aware of the 3-4-5 = right triangle trivia, I've never once employed it.

I think it's mostly useful for folks who are trying to square up something that's 1) too big to check with a carpenter's square, and 2) also not a perfect rectangle.

As a framer, the majority of the time I would use it would be when checking a foundation for squareness, and making an exterior wall square before adding sheathing or braces to it. (very occassionally - most walls are rectangles)

Of course, I never did any of that stuff for a living, so I suppose technically you can still claim to be correct.

I think you grant him too much.

MattJ

 

[Cain]

Some politicians are very fond of calling publicly for testing of students to make sure that they have a reasonable level of education, and testing teachers to make sure they are competent.

It would therefore be, in my judgment, fair game to ask politicians to take an exam to gauge their fitness for office.

Hey, aren't Republicans crazy for standardized tests? Perhaps we could make a quiz for incoming presidents. I think that if you cannot correctly name (oh, say) the Prime Minister of India, the world's largest democracy, then maybe you're not qualified to be "leader of the free world." But then Republicans also like having dumb figureheads for president .

 

[Brown]

Hey, aren't Republicans crazy for standardized tests? Perhaps we could make a quiz for incoming presidents. I think that if you cannot correctly name (oh, say) the Prime Minister of India, the world's largest democracy, then maybe you're not qualified to be "leader of the free world."

The current Republican party line seems to be that testing students and teachers is a great way to assess progress and ability, and there are some Democrats who feel that way, too.

But I think it would be a great idea for all politicians who declare that others should submit to basic tests of competence should be willing to submit to tests themselves. They certainly should have no trouble at all with the basic skills tests that they think are so great for grade schoolers.

 

[Art Vandelay]

Taking pride in ones knowledge and ability as opposed to being a spoil rich moron whose ivy league eductions is proven to be a total waist ( since they're incapable of doing simple sums in their head) is now elitist.

There's a difference between "pride" and "condescension". There's also a difference between "waist" and "waste".

And I don't see why this knoweledge is needed for verifying rightness. If line AB intersects line CD at point E, it suffices to check whether angle AEC is equal to angle CEB. The right angle is the only one equal to its supplement.

 

[WildCat]

In my rather short life thus far I've built two decks, one vegetable garden, cut and installed 4 interior doors, rebricked a portion of a basement wall, installed a new screen door (after re-squaring the jamb), and helped a friend build a complete bedroom extension on his house. While being aware of the 3-4-5 = right triangle trivia, I've never once employed it.

Of course, I never did any of that stuff for a living, so I suppose technically you can still claim to be correct.

I do do that for a living, and 3-4-5 is a very reliable and fast way to square a room or deck.

Of course, for larger rooms or decks 6-8-10 is better.

 

[Art Vandelay]

Or you could use meters.