[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by KSig RC

MC, you may not use by-rote algebra every day, but I'm certain you use the same sort of logic every day - it's very much related to the "lawyer brain" (solving for unknowns/inconsistencies).

Essentially, any time you're solving for an unknown, you're using algebraic thinking - and that's a skill he will want to have, even if it's just wondering how much he can spend on two different items while still making budget for the month, or how to determine his 401(k) match sweet spot.

These aren't sexy reasons, but they do show that the reason why algebra is hard (it requires you to attack a problem in reverse, essentially) is the same as its benefit: an angle to attack problems that you didn't have before.

Yeah, this gets at the main reason I have been able to come up with for him -- that it teaches a way of thinking and problem solving. But to his Aspergian brain, that's not good enough. The connection he wants to see is the specific one: I need to know how to do this kind of equation because I will use this kind of equation when I am doing this real-life task. And it's not enough to point to the kinds of jobs where you'd need to know how to do particular calculations; the fact that there are jobs where one would use, say, linear equations is irrelevant to him if it's a job he doesn't see himself doing (and if his attitude is that the job would be ruled out if it required much math). Of course, it doesn't help that he doesn't know what he wants to do. He just has the list of jobs that are out of consideration. (And yes, lawyer is out of consideration for him. ) That leaves us reminding him that he wants to keep all his options open.

Non-trigonometrical tangent: He did tell me a few nights ago that one reason he dislikes math is because "it doesn't require any thinking." That is to say, in his view, it is mechanical or (his words), "nothing but method." You learn the formula, you plug in numbers, you solve the equation. There's nothing "creative" (again, his word) about it; nothing that requires you to think about it in the same way as, for example, you think about the effects of a historical event or the meaning of a story (or the application of a case). This lack of "creativity" makes it very, very boring to him. I'm trying to work through how this fits in to helping him approach algebra.

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

As for linear algebra, is he into sports at all?

Not at all, unfortunately. Doesn't like to play them, doesn't like to watch them.

Originally Posted by agzg

The graph on the plane is just to conceptualize the concept in a context where it's not immediately apparent. And for things like statistical analysis, economic understanding, etc. where it's ideas instead of physical space.

Perhaps this is what throws me. (Or again, maybe my own algebraic inadequacies are showing). I can see needing to know slope to figure out stairs or ramps (though I still don't see how linear equations come into using a tape measure to measure dimensions and multiply for area). And I know how to calculate the proper dimensions for stairs, though I've never had to do it. From his view, this makes it useless knowledge for me -- why do I bother knowing how if I don't need to use that information. That's the mindset we're dealing with.

But I can promise you that in the dark ages when I took algebra, nobody ever suggested that the graph on the plane is just there to conceptualize the idea -- the graph was presented as the purpose and goal of doing the linear equation. In other words, the way it was presented to us left the impression that the reason for doing the linear equation is to be able to draw it on graph paper. I'm pretty willing to bet that's the impression he has as well. That goes back to what I said at the outset -- my experience was that my otherwise very good math teachers didn't give us any sense at all as to why anything beyond basic mathematics mattered outside the classroom.

This is a lot of good food for thought, everyone -- thanks.