Ask a Tech Teacher

JUNE 24, 2015

In the face of mounting evidence, education experts accepted a prescriptive fact: student success is not measured by milestones like ‘took a foreign language in fifth grade’ or ‘passed Algebra in high school’ but by how s/he thinks. Persisting. Stick with a problem, even when it’s difficult and seems hopeless.

Critical Thinking 263

Critical Thinking Argumentation Problem Solving Communications 263

Stephen Wolfram

SEPTEMBER 29, 2023

But some of it has immediate practical implications, notably for parallel, distributed, nondeterministic and quantum-style computing. The key point is that a given event cannot happen unless all the inputs to it are available, i.e. have already been computed. Some of what this will lead us to is deeply abstract.

Physics 108

Physics Computer Argumentation Construction 108

Stephen Wolfram

AUGUST 22, 2023

And there was one way in which Ed and I were very much aligned: both of our lives were deeply influenced by computers and computing. Ed had started with computers in 1956—as part of one of the very first cohorts of programmers. Finally I felt as if there might be a plausible computational foundation for fundamental physics.

Computer 67

Computer Physics Science Sciences 67

Stephen Wolfram

NOVEMBER 10, 2021

Think of it as the entangled limit of everything that is computationally possible: the result of following all possible computational rules in all possible ways. And as such, it traces out the entangled consequences of progressively applying all possible computational rules. The Entangled Limit of Everything. I call it the ruliad.

Physics 122

Physics Mathematics Computer Construction 122

Stephen Wolfram

MAY 17, 2021

But it’s potentially much more efficient if we can use a distributed algorithm, where we’re running computations in parallel across the various nodes. In any decentralized system with computers, people, databases, measuring devices or anything else one can end up with different values or results at different “nodes”. The Background.

Computer 52

Computer Achievement Mathematics Physics 52

Stephen Wolfram

SEPTEMBER 9, 2021

But there is something else too—and it’s from this that the full computational paradigm emerges. And this is the essence of the computational paradigm: to define a model using computational rules (say, for a cellular automaton ) and then explicitly be able to run these to work out their consequences.

Science 65

Science Sciences Physics Mathematics 65

Stephen Wolfram

SEPTEMBER 9, 2021

But there is something else too—and it’s from this that the full computational paradigm emerges. And this is the essence of the computational paradigm: to define a model using computational rules (say, for a cellular automaton ) and then explicitly be able to run these to work out their consequences.

Physics 64

Physics Science Sciences Mathematics 64

Robert Talbert, Ph.D.

APRIL 1, 2022

Statistical computations using points — which is how we traditionally convert marks into course grades — can hide key elements of student growth. But performing mathematical computations on categorical data is like averaging ZIP codes, which are also numbers but not numerical data.

Primary 52

Primary Mathematics Argumentation Algebra 52

Robert Talbert, Ph.D.

APRIL 15, 2022

An argument for traditional grading goes like this: Sure, a single assessment might have a grade on it that doesn't accurately reflect student understanding. This has a connection with the next point. A misplaced trust in statistics. Limit the frequency of reassessments. This approach works well with writing-intensive work.

Academic Standards 52

Academic Standards Communications Calculus Argumentation 52

Stephen Wolfram

MAY 20, 2021

Let’s say you’re running a long computation. But now we have an initiative underway to systematically add progress reporting for all sorts of functions that can end up doing long computations. ( $ProgressReporting = False globally switches it off.). &#10005. Here’s a computation with Around : &#10005. But now. &#10005.

Computer 52

Computer Construction Physics Technology 52