Arthur Benjamin: Teach statistics before calculus!

Translator: Jonada Rrapo Reviewer: Alida Hamo

Now, if President Obama

Nese president Obama,

invited me to be the next Czar of Mathematics,

do me ftonte te behesha Cari i Matematikes,

then I would have a suggestion for him

do kisha nje propozim per te

that I think would vastly improve

qe mendoj se do ta permiresonte

the mathematics education in this country.

ndjeshem mesimdhenien e matematikes ne kete vend.

And it would be easy to implement

Propozimi do ishte i thjeshte per tu zbatuar

and inexpensive.

dhe jo i kushtueshem.

The mathematics curriculum that we have

Kurrikula e matematikes qe kemi ne

is based on a foundation of arithmetic and algebra.

eshte bazuar mbi aritmetiken dhe algjebren.

And everything we learn after that

Cdo gje me pas eshte ndertuar

is building up towards one subject.

mbi te per te arritur ne majen e

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

piramides ku qendron analiza numerike.

And I'm here to say

Dhe jam ketu per t'ju thene juve

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

se mendoj qe maja e piramides eshte e gabuar...

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

ne vend te saj - te gjithe studentet

every high school graduate should know --

dhe cdo gjimnaziste, duhet te mesojne dicka tjeter-

should be statistics:

statistiken,

probability and statistics.

probabilitetin dhe statistiken.

(Applause)

(Duartrokitje)

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

Mos me keqkuptoni. Une mendoj se analiza eshte shume e rendesishme.

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

Eshte nje nga produktet e medha te mendjes.

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

Ligjet e natyres jane shkruar ne gjuhen e analizes.

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

Dhe cdo student i matematikes, shkences, inxhinieriese, ekonomise

they should definitely learn calculus

duhet te mesoje analize numerike

by the end of their freshman year of college.

gjer para fundit te vitit te pare ne universitet.

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

Por si profesor matematike une di dhe kete

that very few people actually use calculus

qe shume pak njerez e perdorin analizen

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

ne menyre te ndergjegjshme dhe kuptimplote ne jeten e perditshme.

On the other hand,

Nga ana tjeter,

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

statistika -eshte lenda qe mund

and should, use on daily basis. Right?

dhe duhet ta perdorni perdite. Apo jo?

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

Ka te beje me riskun,fitimin, rastesine.

It's understanding data.

Ka te beje me interpretimin e te dhenave.

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

Une mendoj se nese studentet, gjimnazistet-

if all of the American citizens --

nese te gjithe qytetaret amerikane-

knew about probability and statistics,

do dinin probabilitet dhe statistike,

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

ne nuk do ishim ne kete kaos ekonomik ku gjendemi sot.

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

Jo vetem aq- faleminderit-

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

por nese mesohet sic duhet mund te jete e kendshme.

I mean, probability and statistics,

E kam fjalen qe probabiliteti dhe statistika

it's the mathematics of games and gambling.

eshte matematika e lojerave dhe "bixhozit"

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

Ka te beje me analizen e tendencave, parashikimin e te ardhmes.

Look, the world has changed

Shihni, bota ka ndryshuar

from analog to digital.

nga analoge ne digjitale.

And it's time for our mathematics curriculum to change

Ka ardhur dhe koha per te ndryshuar kurrikulen e matematikes

from analog to digital,

nga analoge ne digjitale,

from the more classical, continuous mathematics,

nga matematika e vazhdueshme dhe klasike

to the more modern, discrete mathematics --

ne matematike diskrete dhe moderne,

the mathematics of uncertainty,

ne matematiken e pasigurise,

of randomness, of data --

te rastesise, se te dhenave-

that being probability and statistics.

pra ne probabilitet dhe statistike.

In summary, instead of our students

Si permbledhje, ne vend

learning about the techniques of calculus,

qe tu mesojme studenteve teknikat e analizes numerike,

I think it would be far more significant

do ishte shume me e nevojshme

if all of them knew what two standard deviations

tu shpjegonim atyre cdo te thote te jesh

from the mean means. And I mean it.

dy standarte devijimi larg mesatares. E kam seriozisht.

Thank you very much.

Faleminderit shume.

(Applause)

(Duartrokitje)