We may take for granted our ability to count, but as Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke talk about in this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, there’s a lot more to it than meets the eye!
numbers
Texas Standard: April 7, 2017
After US cruise missile attacks on Syria, whose move is it next? A one time event, or the start of something bigger? We’ll explore. Also, after a 15 hour budget battle royal, a 218 billion dollar spending plan for Texas, paid for in part by tapping the rainy day fund. We’ll tally the winners and losers. And depressing numbers on new jobs today, and yet in Texas, the construction industry says there aren’t enough workers to meet demand. What’s going on here? All that and much more turn it up, its Texas Standard:
Numbers
A lot of us can listen to a newscast or a lecture about, global warming or the federal budget, and hear numbers in the trillions mentioned and think we know what is being discussed. We might even come out with a sense that we learned something about said numbers.
Yet, as Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke discuss in this edition of Two Guys on Your Head, it is really very difficult for the average human being to conceive of what numbers really mean, or how they might affect our lives. But there is hope.
Higher Ed: The Meaning and Nuance of Numbers
From pre-K and all the way through graduate studies in math, we learn about numbers. But think about it – what is a number, really? What does the concept of “four” or a “million” of something actually mean? In this week’s episode of KUT’s podcast Higher Ed, KUT’s Jennifer Stayton and Southwestern University President Dr. Ed Burger try to define what numbers really are. Hear some stories about first graders’ take on the meaning of numbers. And it turns out humans aren’t the only species that uses the concept of numbers. Ever heard of the “limit of four?” Listen on to find out what it means, and what is tells us about how humans and other species make meaning and learn.