>Bret, first I'm only talking about polynomial factoring, not numerical or
>common factor factoring. I see value in both of them for different reasons.
>For polynomial factoring I think we should distinguish between the *process*
>of finding factors and the theorems themselves. So few (essentially 0%) of
>polynomials are factorable by pencil and paper that I think we waste a lot
>of our time and our students' time with the processes when there are so many
>more interesting and valuable things we could be doing. And remember, the
>*only* places that trinomials are factored are in the math classroom and
>(decreasingly so) on SAT's etc..
"Remember?" You act like this is common knowledge, and not only is it not,
it's wrong. Have you ever taken a physics course, for instance?
>Ask any engineer.
>-Sandy
But don't ask a physicist.
mark snyder
fitchburg state college
msnyder@fsc.edu,msnyder@tiac.net
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