Timeline for How to explain the flipping of division by a fraction?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
8 events
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| Apr 13, 2017 at 12:50 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
replaced http://matheducators.stackexchange.com/ with https://matheducators.stackexchange.com/
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| Apr 10, 2015 at 22:55 | comment | added | Benjamin Dickman | @DavidButlerUofA Not a problem: Just pick one of them (I tried to convey this with a parenthetical "e.g."). If you think equal sharing preferable, then it can be declared as canonical; the important point is that one of them could be chosen... | |
| Apr 10, 2015 at 21:19 | comment | added | DavidButlerUofA | The problem with that @BenjaminDickman is that in science, most rates (like speed, chemical concentration) are best interpreted as equal sharing, and so equal sharing could be argued to be the canonical meaning. | |
| Apr 10, 2015 at 20:44 | history | edited | Benjamin Dickman | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
Added the equal sharing approach for completeness
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| Apr 10, 2015 at 5:19 | history | edited | Benjamin Dickman | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
Corrected minor problems with spelling and mechanics.
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| Apr 10, 2015 at 0:31 | comment | added | Benjamin Dickman | @StevenGubkin Just a thought, which you may be able to re-purpose in a more meaningful way: Since measurement and equal sharing differ only insofar as the meanings of divisor and quotient switch, I would think you could formalize this by somehow declaring (e.g.) measurement to be the "canonical" interpretation, and view equal sharing as measurement composed with the transformation that turns $a \div b = c$ into $a \div c = b$. | |
| Apr 10, 2015 at 0:20 | comment | added | Steven Gubkin | You may also be interested in my question here, which also addresses this distinction, and tries for a mathematical formalism which can tell them apart. mathoverflow.net/questions/22860/… | |
| Apr 9, 2015 at 22:23 | history | answered | Benjamin Dickman | CC BY-SA 3.0 |