It has been a very long time since I left formal education. When I took my last exam, this was number one in the UK charts... Even then, I was far from the World's best mathematician, but I have noticed that my maths skills have improved enormously over the last few years. After giving it some thought, I have decided that this improvement is the result of one thing:
Computer games.
More precisely, it's due to Microsoft's Flight Simulator. Flying is mainly an exercise in numbers - speed, distance, time, compass bearings, payloads... I have read somewhere that pilots are really just human computers and so using a game like flight simulator has been giving me constant practice in basic arithmetic without me even knowing it. It's helped my Geography too.
But it doesn't stop there. When I thought about it more, I realised that other games have helped me too. An ancient game called Elite (on the wonderful Acorn Electron) gave me a basic understanding of demand economics. System Shock 2 gave me a tiny understanding of the periodic table of elements. I did say tiny - please don't make me take a test or anything...
Since the birth of my little boy, computer games have taken a back seat and I have started reading lots of history. Has this taught me anything? Well, I guess I know never to get involved in a land war in Asia, but watching The Princess Bride taught me that years ago.
Is there a point to these rambings? Well, yes, two actually. The first is that learning doesn't have to stop after we leave school or university, and the second is that we find these lessons in some of the most unlikely places. I'm not suggesting that you use this as an excuse when your spouse/parents/friends tell you off for sitting in front of your Xbox, but it's something to think about...
Brom
For me , I became a arm chair enthusiast. A black belt in the Martial art of "NO CAN DO"
Kennyutt
I agree with the comment re FS and as I have a pilot licence having flown some 600 hours maths and controll of your emotions, fear etc also improve, try night flying. A night rating is a fantastic way to built trust in your ability to think and work your maths.
Boss
Can't say I played many games, but I did watch the children playing them and learnt about animation, screen modes and sprites etc., resulting in writting a clinical trials visual test program.
I also learn't about the construction and repair of the Commodore Pet keyboard after "Space Invaders" destroyed the shift and fire keys! This even led on to understanding the assembler and modifying the program to use other keys.
Going back even further when at school (around 1970) a teletype terminal linked to program where I could control the launch velocity and angle of a missile to hit a target also got me interested in the maths behind that.
Like LStacey I really like my ZX Spectrum and learnt lots about programming and I/O with that, but I hated the tape drive used for reading and writing programs....
Today I think the games are too realistic for most to consider what's going on behind the screen and it's just playing, but on the exercise front Pete have a look at the Wii Fit, the dance, fitness, balance routines have introduced a whole new element into the games consule.
Pete Wood
I'd like to say i'm king of the WII dance in our house, but my daughters are way better then me.., I much more akin to a bit of Call of Duty cranked up on full surround sound :0) I've also noticed how gaming has started to replace traditional board games at Christmas. For years, growing up we would play things Pictionary or Trival Pursuits, but the last few years, it seems that many families like ours have replaced these with WII Sports, dance and Singstar contests..., I guess the positive side to this is that you will burn more Christmas calories jumping around the room playing on the WII, than you do from rolling a dice!
172pilot
I agree completely, although I can't decide if today's games offer the same advantages or not.. Jusdging by the song you posted, I'm a little bit older than you, but I think the story is similar - Back in the early 80's when I got my first TRS-80, I dabbled in a little bit of BASIC programming, but I really enjoyed playing knock-offs of the games at the local arcades - PacMan, Space Invaders, etc.. Losing too quickly at these games made me want to change the game so that I could get more lives than 3, and therefore get further through the game.. Having programmed in BASIC, I knew that somewhere, there MUST be something equivilent to a "LIVES=3" statement, and no matter how long it took, I was going to find it, and change it.
Long story short, the curiosity created by video games drove me to learn assembly language, some skills in reverse engineering, troubleshooting skills, keyboarding, etc, all that have served me well in my life, building up to a successful career in computers that I never even went to college for.. (OK.. so I Never FINISHED college!)
As I write this, my 10 year old sits across the room from me playing his Nintendo 3DS that we just bought today, and I wonder if the games and kids today have the same connection, and if it's really doing any good, or if he's just "playing". Of course, if not, it could be just that he's not interested in a life as a "geek" and that my expectations for that magical connection I experienced is just unrealistic, and I should just be grateful that he's good at math anyway!
GregoireLeGros
Dont count your chickens yet ! Didnt teach you to distinguish a page of chemistry formulas from a page of maths as in the headline illustration!! I'd say the case is proved to the contrary. Elite was a good game but my time would have been far better spent learning the skills of concentration and persistence. If you want to claim maths skills then Open University would be a good start.
impomatic
I was never a big fan of Elite. I preferred text adventures, The Hobbit, etc :-)
I learned a fair bit by playing games with a programming element though, Core War, CROBOTS, etc.
LStacey
Totally with you on this, David!
ZX Spectrum all the way!
Pete Wood
..., unfortunatley, the hours I spent playing Track and Field never taught me how to become a real athlete! :0)