Hacker News Reader

Because they learn math in junior high where they really don't care about the subject, so it gets boiled down to "remember this to pass the exam", regardless of what the book says.

People claim they only learn math by memorizing formulas because for most, that's all the math they see before getting irreversibly turned off by the subject. Most people learn math by memorizing plug and chug formulas in high school. Aside from 9th grade euclidean geometry, I can't recall an instance where I had to derive anything in my hs math courses. College math courses, of course, are usually much more rigorous.

Take a look at what AP Stats teaches.