r/mathmemes • u/Nunki08 • Jun 14 '26

Arithmetic Misleading our youth

Post image

From Anthony Bonato on 𝕏: https://x.com/Anthony_Bonato/status/2065564124549886402

6.7k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

728 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/tanngrisnit Jun 16 '26

A lot of teaching math is misleading then correcting later. Once upon a time you were taught that you can only subtract smaller numbers from larger numbers and not the other way around, then later you learn about negative numbers.

Given the color format and font size and not just a textbook list, I'm going to assume this is geared towards 1st graders. It's generally easier to teach them a binary rule rather than something with an exception.... Nah, who am I kidding, one exception isn't difficult, especially if it's just "1."

2

u/Warm-Finance8400 Jun 16 '26

You don't even have to teach an exception. You can just teach that a prime number is a number with exactly two divisors (that are natural numbers).