Arthur Benjamin: Teach statistics before calculus!

Translator: Nenad Bozinovic Reviewer: Jelena Ban

Now, if President Obama

Ako bi me kojim slucajem predsednik Obama

invited me to be the next Czar of Mathematics,

pozvao da ja budem sledeci Car matematike,

then I would have a suggestion for him

ja bih imao predlog za njega

that I think would vastly improve

za koji mislim da bi u mnogome mogao da poboljsa

the mathematics education in this country.

predavanje matematike u skolama u ovoj zemlji.

And it would be easy to implement

Koji bi bio lak da se implementira

and inexpensive.

i jeftin.

The mathematics curriculum that we have

Matematicki program koji trenutno imamo

is based on a foundation of arithmetic and algebra.

je baziran na osnovama aritmetike i algebre.

And everything we learn after that

I sve sto ucimo posle toga

is building up towards one subject.

ide u pravcu razvijanja ka jednoj oblasti matematike.

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

I na vrhu te piramide je Analiza (tj. Diferencijalni i integralni racun).

And I'm here to say

Ja vam ovde sada kazem

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

da ja mislim da je to pogresan vrh piramide ...

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

i da je oblast matematike, koju bi svaki student

every high school graduate should know --

i svaki srednjoskolac trebalo da zna,

should be statistics:

jeste Statistika.

probability and statistics.

Verovatnoca i statistika.

(Applause)

(aplauz)

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

Mislim, nemojete pogresno da me shvatite. Analiza je jako bitna oblast matematike.

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

i vazi za veliki uspeh ljudskog roda.

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

I prirodni zakoni su napisani kroz izvode i integrale.

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

I svaki student koji studira matematiku, prirodne nauke, inzinjerstvo, ekonomiju,

they should definitely learn calculus

mora da zna Analizu

by the end of their freshman year of college.

do kraja prve godine fakulteta.

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

Ali ja sam ovde da vam kazem, kao profesor matematike,

that very few people actually use calculus

da vrlo malo ljudi koristi izvode i integrale

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

na svestan, smislen nacin u svakodnevnom zivotu,

On the other hand,

Sa druge strane,

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

Statistika je oblast koju mozete,

and should, use on daily basis. Right?

i koji bi trebalo da koristite na svakodnevnoj osnovi, zar ne?

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

Statistika se bavi rizikom, mogucnosti dobitka, slucajnostima,

It's understanding data.

razumevanju podataka.

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

Ja mislim da ako bi nasi studenti, ako bi nasi srednjoskolci,

if all of the American citizens --

ako bi svi gradjani u SAD,

knew about probability and statistics,

znali o verovatnoci i statistici,

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

mi ne bi bili u ovoj ekonomskoj krizi u kojoj smo danas.

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.

[ali] ako bi se predavalo na pravi nacin, moze da bude vrlo zabavno.

I mean, probability and statistics,

Mislim, verovatnoca i statistika

it's the mathematics of games and gambling.

je matematika igara i kockanja,

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

analiziranja trendova pa i predvidjanja buducnosti.

Look, the world has changed

Pazite ovako ... svet se promenio

from analog to digital.

od analognog ka digitalnom.

And it's time for our mathematics curriculum to change

I vreme je da se i nas program matematike promeni

from analog to digital,

od analognog ka digitalnom.

from the more classical, continuous mathematics,

Sa dosadasnje klasicne kontinualne matematike,

to the more modern, discrete mathematics --

na moderniju, diskretnu matematiku.

the mathematics of uncertainty,

Matematiku neodredjenosti,

of randomness, of data --

slucajnosti, podataka --

that being probability and statistics.

a sve je to Verovatnoca i statistika.

In summary, instead of our students

Kao zakljucak, umesto da studenti

learning about the techniques of calculus,

uce o izvodima i integralima,

I think it would be far more significant

mislim da bi bilo mnogo vaznije

if all of them knew what two standard deviations

kad bi svi znali sta znaci odstupanje od dve standarne devijacije

from the mean means. And I mean it.

od srednje vrednosti.

Thank you very much.

Hvala puno.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)