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Now, if President Obama
現在,假如歐巴馬總統
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invited me to be the next Czar of Mathematics,
邀請我擔任下一個數學教育總管
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then I would have a suggestion for him
我將對他提個建議
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that I think would vastly improve
我認為將會大幅改善
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the mathematics education in this country.
國內的數學教育
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And it would be easy to implement
而且可以很容易實施
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and inexpensive.
而且費用不多。
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The mathematics curriculum that we have
我們現在的數學課程
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is based on a foundation of arithmetic and algebra.
是以算術與代數為基礎,
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And everything we learn after that
而在那之後所學的一切
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is building up towards one subject.
都在朝著同一個主題發展
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And at top of that pyramid, it's calculus.
在這金字塔的頂端,就是微積分
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And I'm here to say
我在這裡要說
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that I think that that is the wrong summit of the pyramid ...
我認為這是個錯誤的目標
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that the correct summit -- that all of our students,
而正確的目標,對全體學生而言
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every high school graduate should know --
每一個畢業生應該知道的
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should be statistics:
應該是統計
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probability and statistics.
機率與統計
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(Applause)
鼓掌聲
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I mean, don't get me wrong. Calculus is an important subject.
請別誤會,微積分是個重要的學科
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It's one of the great products of the human mind.
它是人類心智最重要的產物之一
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The laws of nature are written in the language of calculus.
大自然的定律是以微積分來描述的
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And every student who studies math, science, engineering, economics,
每一個學習數學、科學、工程、經濟的學生
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they should definitely learn calculus
他們絕對需要學習微積分
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by the end of their freshman year of college.
在他們大一就得學會
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But I'm here to say, as a professor of mathematics,
但身為一個數學教授,我要說
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that very few people actually use calculus
很少人會實際用到微積分
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in a conscious, meaningful way, in their day-to-day lives.
以有意識、有意義的方式,用在日常生活中
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On the other hand,
但另一方面
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statistics -- that's a subject that you could,
統計學--是你可以應用的學科
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and should, use on daily basis. Right?
並且應該在日常生活中使用的,對嗎?
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It's risk. It's reward. It's randomness.
它討論風險、報償、隨機性
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It's understanding data.
它是了解數據的工具
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I think if our students, if our high school students --
我想,如果我們的學生,
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if all of the American citizens --
如果所有的美國人民
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knew about probability and statistics,
懂得機率與統計學
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we wouldn't be in the economic mess that we're in today. (Laughter) (Applause)
我們就不會陷入今天這場經濟風暴
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Not only -- thank you -- not only that ...
不止這樣
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but if it's taught properly, it can be a lot of fun.
如果教法適當,它可以是很有趣的
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I mean, probability and statistics,
機率與統計
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it's the mathematics of games and gambling.
它是遊戲與賭博的數學
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It's analyzing trends. It's predicting the future.
它分析趨勢、預測未來
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Look, the world has changed
你看,這世界已經改變了
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from analog to digital.
從類比式的變成數位式
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And it's time for our mathematics curriculum to change
也是改變我們數學課程的時候了
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from analog to digital,
從類比式變成數位式
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from the more classical, continuous mathematics,
從古典、連續式的數學
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to the more modern, discrete mathematics --
變成更現代、分離式的數學
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the mathematics of uncertainty,
探討不確定性的數學
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of randomness, of data --
探討數據的隨機性
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that being probability and statistics.
那就是機率與統計
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In summary, instead of our students
簡要的說,與其
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learning about the techniques of calculus,
讓學生學微積分
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I think it would be far more significant
我想更重要的是
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if all of them knew what two standard deviations
讓他們了解,距離平均值兩個標準差
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from the mean means. And I mean it.
代表什麼意思,會更有意義
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Thank you very much.
謝謝大家
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(Applause)
鼓掌聲