Arthur Benjamin: Teach statistics before calculus!

Translator: Borut Semolic Reviewer: Matej Divjak

Now, if President Obama

Če bi me predsednik Obama

invited me to be the next Czar of Mathematics,

izbral za naslednjega carja matematike,

then I would have a suggestion for him

bi zanj imel predlog,

that I think would vastly improve

ki bi po mojem mnenju znatno izboljšal

the mathematics education in this country.

raven znanja matematike v naši državi.

And it would be easy to implement

Spremembe bi lahko izvedli enostavno

and inexpensive.

in poceni.

The mathematics curriculum that we have

Matematični curriculum, ki ga imamo

is based on a foundation of arithmetic and algebra.

je osnovan na temeljih aritmetike in algebre.

And everything we learn after that

Vse, kar se po tem naučimo

is building up towards one subject.

se usmerja proti enemu samemu predmetu.

And at top of that pyramid, it's calculus.

Na vrhu te piramide so odvodi in integrali.

And I'm here to say

Tu sem, da povem,

that I think that that is the wrong summit of the pyramid ...

da je po mojem mnenju to napačen vrh piramide...

that the correct summit -- that all of our students,

in da bi pravilen vrh -- to kar bi morali vsi učenci,

every high school graduate should know --

in vsi tisti, ki so zaključili srednjo šolo vedeti --

should be statistics:

morala biti statistika:

probability and statistics.

verjetnost in statistika.

(Applause)

(Aplavz)

I mean, don't get me wrong. Calculus is an important subject.

Ne me narobe razumeti. Mislim, da so odvodi in integrali pomemben predmet.

It's one of the great products of the human mind.

So eden izmed velikih produktov človeškega uma.

The laws of nature are written in the language of calculus.

Zakoni narave so napisani v računskem jeziku.

And every student who studies math, science, engineering, economics,

Vsi študentje, ki študirajo matematiko, znanost, inženirstvo, ekonomijo,

they should definitely learn calculus

bi se morali naučiti reševati račune

by the end of their freshman year of college.

do konca prvega letnika faksa.

But I'm here to say, as a professor of mathematics,

Ampak, tukaj sem da povem, kot profesor matematike,

that very few people actually use calculus

da je malo takih ljudi, ki dejansko uporablja račune

in a conscious, meaningful way, in their day-to-day lives.

na zaveden in smiseln način v vsakdanjem življenju.

On the other hand,

Po drugi strani,

statistics -- that's a subject that you could,

statistika -- to je predmet, katerega bi lahko

and should, use on daily basis. Right?

in bi morali uporabljati dnevno. Je tako?

It's risk. It's reward. It's randomness.

So tveganja. So nagrade. So naključja.

It's understanding data.

Gre za razumevanje podatkov.

I think if our students, if our high school students --

Mislim, da če bi učenci, naši srednješolski učenci--

if all of the American citizens --

če bi vsi državljani Amerike --

knew about probability and statistics,

vedeli o verjetnosti in statistiki,

we wouldn't be in the economic mess that we're in today. (Laughter) (Applause)

se danes ne bi znašli v gospodarski zmešnjavi.

Not only -- thank you -- not only that ...

Ne samo -- hvala -- ne samo to...

but if it's taught properly, it can be a lot of fun.

ampak, če je primerno poučevana, je lahko tudi zabavna.

I mean, probability and statistics,

Mislim, da je verjetnost in statistika

it's the mathematics of games and gambling.

matematika iger in tveganja.

It's analyzing trends. It's predicting the future.

Je analiza trendov. Je napoved prihodnosti.

Look, the world has changed

Poglejte, svet se je spremenil

from analog to digital.

od analognega k digitalnemu.

And it's time for our mathematics curriculum to change

Čas je, da se tudi naš matematični curriculum spremeni

from analog to digital,

od analognega k digitalnemu.

from the more classical, continuous mathematics,

Od klasične, zvezne matematike,

to the more modern, discrete mathematics --

do bolj moderne, diskretne matematike.

the mathematics of uncertainty,

Matematike negotovosti,

of randomness, of data --

naključnosti, podatkov --

that being probability and statistics.

in to je verjetnost in statistika.

In summary, instead of our students

Če obnovim, namesto da se naši učenci

learning about the techniques of calculus,

učijo o tehnikah računanja,

I think it would be far more significant

mislim, da bi bilo dosti bolj smotrno,

if all of them knew what two standard deviations

če bi vsi učenci vedeli kaj pomenita dva standardna odklona

from the mean means. And I mean it.

od povprečja. In to je pomembno.

Thank you very much.

Najlepša hvala.

(Applause)

(Aplavz)