Useless knowledge we're forced to learn, have never used and have now forgotten

[Mike Henderson]

I hate to pick nits, but you're describing a double rainbow. That's caused by two reflections in the droplets instead of one, hence the rainbow ends up upside down.

A supernumerary rainbow is different. I've never actually seen one in person. That's when you end up with multiple rainbows inside the arc of the main rainbow. It's a purely wave effect that can't be explained with ray tracing. It's actually interference occuring in the droplet.

Ah, you're right. I don't know if my knowledge was useless, but it was wrong.

Mike

[John Coloccia]

Having "used" useless information, does that make it useful?

LOL. I suppose so, but I don't consider knowing how a rainbow works useless information. I consider memorizing the "number of colors" of a rainbow, or ROY G BIV stupid because it doesn't convey any information...it merely names something. Forcing someone to memorize that there are 26 letters in the alphabet is stupid. If I know the alphabet, I can simply count them myself...and if I need to know it enough times I'll eventually memorize it.

Someone else mentioned dates of historical events. Maybe they're useless, maybe they're not. We're taught "Ferdinand was killed June 28, 1914 and this started WWI". So on the test, when they ask "What event on what specific date started WWI?" we think hard and we write "Archduke Ferdinand's assasination on Jan. 28 1914 started WWI"...and get docked 5 points because we wrote Jan instead of June. What have we learned? Absolutely nothing. WHY did that start WWI. What significance is it that Princip was Serbian? What conflicts were already in place?

It's useful to generally know that the order of events, and the basic timeframe, but does it really matter other than it happened in close proximity to the Great War and is generally considered a trigger?

That's the point. I don't know how everyone got off on grammar and actual USEFUL information in context. Of course, for every bit of information there will be SOMEONE that says, "Oh, I use that"...with billions of people on planet, I'm sure someone uses everything for something, if only to make up stupid questions on history tests.

[Larry Browning]

LOL. I suppose so, but I don't consider knowing how a rainbow works useless information. I consider memorizing the "number of colors" of a rainbow, or ROY G BIV stupid because it doesn't convey any information...it merely names something. Forcing someone to memorize that there are 26 letters in the alphabet is stupid. If I know the alphabet, I can simply count them myself...and if I need to know it enough times I'll eventually memorize it.

Someone else mentioned dates of historical events. Maybe they're useless, maybe they're not. We're taught "Ferdinand was killed June 28, 1914 and this started WWI". So on the test, when they ask "What event on what specific date started WWI?" we think hard and we write "Archduke Ferdinand's assasination on Jan. 28 1914 started WWI"...and get docked 5 points because we wrote Jan instead of June. What have we learned? Absolutely nothing. WHY did that start WWI. What significance is it that Princip was Serbian? What conflicts were already in place?

It's useful to generally know that the order of events, and the basic timeframe, but does it really matter other than it happened in close proximity to the Great War and is generally considered a trigger?

That's the point. I don't know how everyone got off on grammar and actual USEFUL information in context. Of course, for every bit of information there will be SOMEONE that says, "Oh, I use that"...with billions of people on planet, I'm sure someone uses everything for something, if only to make up stupid questions on history tests.

Ok, call me stupid, but who is Roy G Biv? and why should I care? Did he discover rainbows?

[Belinda Barfield]

Ah, you're right. I don't know if my knowledge was useless, but it was wrong.

Mike

Good grief, now I have to keep up with my useless wrong knowledge as well.

Ok, call me stupid, but who is Roy G Biv? and why should I care? Did he discover rainbows?

Colors of the rainbow in order, red orange yellow green blue indigo violet (I think that's right) and I didn't know I remembered this until just now.

Has anyone mentioned that no two people are exactly alike?

[John Coloccia]

Red orange yellow green blue indigo violet. It's a trick for remembering the colors of the rainbow in order.

LOL...don't worry about it, though. It's not all that important.

[Sean Hughto]

Ok, call me stupid, but who is Roy G Biv? and why should I care? Did he discover rainbows?

Roy G Biv is a mnemonic used to help rememeber the colors in a rainbow (i.e., colors that white light is devided into by a prism): red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.

[Mike Henderson]

Ok, call me stupid, but who is Roy G Biv? and why should I care? Did he discover rainbows?

In electrical work, resistors used to be marked with a color code and there was a mnemonic to remember how the colors equated to the numbers. It started with the phrase "Bad Boys...." for black and brown. You can see more of the resistor color code mnemonics here.

Mike

[Did any of the other electrical people posting here learn the same mnemonic?]

[Belinda Barfield]

Speaking of rainbows and useless knowledge, Rainbow Brite's name was originally Wisp. Oh yeaaaah, Jeopardy here I come!

[Jim Koepke]

[Did any of the other electrical people posting here learn the same mnemonic?]

I didn't hear the mnemonic until long after I learned the color code.

Here is another mnemonic that some may recall, Tom Q Vaxey.

The people who know that one likely all had one school class in common.

And most likely before the 1990s.

I think some of us may be missing the point on why we had many of these things "forced" on us. It was the best way educators knew of to teach young minds how to remember and think. It may be useless, but having it shoved into our minds had a purpose.

jtk

[Jim Rimmer]

And the Great Lakes mnemonic- HOMES

[James Baker SD]

In electrical work, resistors used to be marked with a color code and there was a mnemonic to remember how the colors equated to the numbers. It started with the phrase "Bad Boys...." for black and brown. You can see more of the resistor color code mnemonics here.

Mike

[Did any of the other electrical people posting here learn the same mnemonic?]

I did, but I am so color blind it didn't help :-)

[Larry Edgerton]

My granddaughter asked me what the colors of the rainbow are last weekend and I had to look it up.

Bring it on, ask me now.......

Larry

[Rick Moyer]

I think some of us may be missing the point on why we had many of these things "forced" on us. It was the best way educators knew of to teach young minds how to remember and think. It may be useless, but having it shoved into our minds had a purpose.

jtk

I think that's the greater point. All information can be useful, some just more, or more often, than others. Memorization or "useless" facts or knowledge is at the very least exercising the mind, something we would all benefit from. Some stuff I know I suspect I'll never have a need for but it's sorta fun just to know it. I can still compute a square root from doing the math but it's largely unnecessary anymore. Some things I memorized out of silliness, or learned merely out of curiosity, and may never really need to know. Now does any of this actually make you more intelligent? I say only marginally. I would say that having knowledge is not the same as being intelligent. The former is knowing facts and information, whereas the latter is the relative abilty to learn and apply that knowledge.
So, is some information useless? I would say no, no information is useless.

[Lornie McCullough]

I am going to apologise for not having read every comment in this thread.

Then I am going out on a limb, and say, "There is no such thing as useless knowledge."

Lornie

[John M Wilson]

Avogadro's number (no, it's not how many you need to make guacamole).

I fear most of our secondary and collegiate level instruction is designed to make us feel stressed about the process;
it's an indication of who will submit to a professional discipline and gives the appearance of value for tuition.

Had the Khan academy been available when I attended University, I may have passed basic physics/calculus/organic chemistry.

I know a few physicians - NONE can recall anything pertinent from the these endeavors - so why were they so tasked?

I was a mechanical engineer for a large automobile maker for 33 years. When I retired, I decided to go back to school & got a masters in teaching. I now teach high school physics & chemistry.

At the beginning of the year, I ask the students to reflect on the slightly hypothetical question "why do you need to know this stuff?" Since most of them have no intention of being chemists or physicists, they struggle to answer.

I give them an answer out of my past: when I was an engineering student, I was in a co-op program. I quickly figured out that even the most technical of the engineers I worked with didn't use much calculus, and the vast majority used none at all. This caused me to lose interest in my multivariate calculus and differential equations classes. One day my math professor made an example of me in front of the whole class -- he asked me why my grades had plummeted. With the cocky self-assurance that only a 19-year old can master, I told him what I had observed at work, and let him know that I didn't "need to learn any of this stuff." In a booming voice he shouted: "Mr. Wilson! I am not trying to teach you your job, I'm trying to teach you HOW TO THINK!"

That's why physicians, engineers, and other folks who are supposed to think for a living have to learn those subjects -- not for the material per se, but to train and adapt the mind to logically solve problems, and use the information at hand to make wise choices.