Doesn't it depend on what those symbols mean to you? That equation may be
a short-had way of eliciting ALL the information you are talking about. I
agree that a Senior in high school probably doesn't have so sophisticated
an understanding and a 3rd grader would be mystified.
In Chemistry, at least, teaching is primarily about getting students to
make the same association to a symbol as that which is commonly accepted.
I ought to be able to ask a Chemistry major in college about that equation
and get a more sophisticated answer.
What, exactly does E=mc2 mean, anyway? Someone has to explain that to you.
The equation is just a brain-starter for the initiated, not a store of
information.
Another way of saying this is that symbols of any sort only have meaning in
context..."the medium is the message". The content is a little bit a data
within the sea of context.
Reed
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Reed Konsler konsler@ascat.harvard.edu
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