Dear Humans,

Old people often say, “When I was in math class they only taught us the right way to get the answer. Now there’s all these new ways to solve problems.” Which isn’t really true because the “new” ways are actually older than the standardized algorithms. And the “new” ways have us think about how the number system works, not just follow arbitrary steps.

If you memorize steps and dutifully follow them, you will probably get the right answer. And that’s nice. But we live in a world where too many people are getting the correct answers and almost nobody is asking the right questions.

So that’s how you know you’re really getting it in math. If right after you answer a question you say, “Okay, but what about this? Is there another way I can think about this problem?”

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt