Re: “Checking our math” (Oct. 19, Opinion):
I wish to reinforce the author’s exhortation to take a scientific look at how math is taught.
I am a docent at the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery and have led many hundreds of visitors on tours of the facility, focusing on what a hatchery does to enhance the life cycle of these marvelous animals. One of my sharings is on the survival of salmon eggs in a natural setting: Of the 4,000 eggs laid by a Chinook salmon, 200 will survive to the stage of migrating to the ocean.
I ask if anyone can describe that level of survival as a percentage. After a brief pause, I suggest they can use their phone. Crickets. Until this month! Two different folks observed that it was 5%. Wow! Both were seniors — products of an older educational regime, I guess.
By the way, this is important data, because if the eggs are taken and developed in a hatchery, the survival rate goes up to 85%, and visitors are duly impressed. Comparing 5% (small) to 85% (large) is pretty intuitive, but if one is unable to immediately derive the actual numbers, you cannot really understand what you are looking at.
Larry Franks, Issaquah
