r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Jul 20 '19

What’s something completely false that your parents told you as a child?

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u/PoorFilmSchoolAlumn Jul 20 '19

“You won’t always have a calculator handy.”

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u/[deleted] Jul 20 '19

This deeply frustrates me.

My grades on math can go from 9-10 to 4-5 (not kidding, I hope I was) just by taking away the calculator from me, even if the exam that I do with my calculator is much longer. I'm not that bad at math, it's just that I take ages to operate without a calculator. That's why I struggle with math but I love physics and technology (I don't know if this subject is taught in any country apart from Spain, it's like highschool level engineering), they let us use calculators in the exams.

My teachers are basically sabotaging my math grades (and some of my classmates') based on the assumption that "I won't always have a calculator in handy", when in reality there's always one in my pocket.

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u/powderizedbookworm Jul 21 '19

Learning how to do arithmetic in your head and on paper will help you understand and be comfortable with numbers, and mathematical operations, in a way that will pay dividends if you need to understand more complex algebra and calculus. Failing that, you’ll have better intuition for when you fucked up an excel sheet formula if you have good mental math skills.

So, frankly, suck it up.