Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Numbers

     Back when I was in school, I hated math.  I hated numbers.  They made my brain tired and I would be the first one to admit it.  At that time, you only needed one math class to graduate.  It was before the country became all gung ho on science and math and desperate to catch up with the rest of the world and be able to compete.  The concept of math and numbers never came easy to me. 

      To be fair, I never failed math in the history of time.  I struggled.  It wasn’t an easy A for me.  I got B’s and C’s in math.  It was hard to comprehend.  Hide a math problem inside a small cryptic paragraph and I was completely lost. That became even more the case by the time freshmen Algebra was on the agenda.  I was in a state of confusion from the get go.   

        Once again not only did equations and expressions hit me head on with unknown variables but once again some smart a$$ decided it was necessary to include story problems in the mix.  G0d help me!  On top of that I had a complete witch for a math teacher that year which didn’t help matters one bit.  She was far more interested in spending time in the hall than teaching Algebra.  G0d help you if you didn’t get it the first time around and didn’t happen to be a cheerleader or some popular jock.  If you were like me and fell into the category of being invisible and not one of the beautiful people plus were clueless to where to begin to solve anything, you were on your own and screwed.  She had no time to deal with the likes of me.  I was so confused by the whole thing I didn’t even know what questions to ask. 



        My mom being the math wizard she was tried to help me.  She had the knack of always getting the right answers.  The only problem was she didn’t use the same procedure to get the answer as the teacher so in my teacher’s mind it was wrong even though the answer was correct.  It was maddening!!  Finally parent teacher conferences rolled around and my mom was fed up.  She dragged me to parent teacher conferences and gave that woman a good telling off in front of G0d and everyone.  You could have heard a pin drop in that cafeteria as every other teacher and parent turned to stare.

 


      I would like to say my mom’s tirade did the trick, but it didn’t.  I avoided math like the plague for the rest of high school.  To my utter shock and dismay when tested for placement in an appropriate college math course at Belmont, I was placed in College Algebra.  I had not had the background in high school math that was prerequisite so I am not sure how I managed that.  It was in college that I finally came across professors dedicated to breaking through that black hole between my ears.  I left college with A’s in classes I was required to take.  

 


       Since I’ve become an adult I have discovered I use math all the time.  Numbers are everywhere!!  Whether I am figuring out how many hours it will take my husband to get from A to B or figuring out how to stretch the all mighty dollar to pay bills, buy groceries, put a little go-go juice in the Blazer, and get everything we need until the next payday, I use numbers constantly.  To my utter shock, both of my kids have proved themselves to be gifted in math.  I wonder how that happened!! So far I am happy to say I have had enough brains to figure out any questions they have had, although I know that won’t always be the case.  Maybe in the future they will unlock the complete mystery of numbers that has always eluded me.  To my everyday surprise, numbers continue to be apart of my every day life and even more shocking I seem to know what to do with them!  I have no idea how that happened but I am relieved it finally did until next time when I give you another glimpse into the life of a trucker’s wife.

         

18 comments:

  1. teachers can be a right pain. but sometimes they accidentally learn you stuff when you aren't looking.. -)

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    1. Glen, no truer words were ever uttered my friend! Thank you for stopping by and for your kind insightful comments!

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  2. I'm glad you finally got comfortable with numbers because we surely do live in a world full of them.
    My brother barely passed high school and yet, when he was a bit older and decided he needed more education, he found math and even history quite to his liking and very easy classes. I think it's all about being ready and seeing a need for what you are studying.

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    1. Jo, I think you may have something there. Thank you for stopping by to read and for your kind comments! ♥

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  3. I. Hate. Math. My mom sucked at it too so I was given a pass on my bad grades. I went for extra help all the time and failed every test. I just can't start the problem. And I also had a teacher that hit the roof when I used a different method to arrive at the same answer. My geometry teacher asked if I was stupid when I was at the board and couldn't start a proof. The other day at my craft show, I was having a hard time just making change.

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    1. JoJo, I have become fairly accomplished in the math that I use every day. Once they got down to those imaginary numbers, I never did catch on. If they are imaginary, why should I care or bother to learn them? That attitude got me an F on that quiz. LOL Thank you for stopping by to read and for your comments! ♥

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  4. I also hated math as a kid. I hated it from 3rd grade through junior year of university. Then I had a professor that finally made sense of the jumbled mess of numbers (I mean seriously, imaginary numbers? What's the point of solving for that?!)

    Now, I love math and it's my favorite subject to teach, because as you observed, numbers really are everywhere, and EVERYTHING we do involves math to some degree. I just wish we could actually learn math when we are younger in a way that doesn't scare the pants off of us!!

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    1. Purple Dreamer, I so agree with you about those imaginary numbers!!! LOL It took a professor at college to make sense and clear out the cobwebs in my head too. We agree and are alike on so many levels! Thank you for stopping by to read and for your kind comments! ♥

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  5. Thinking on Math teachers-- I either had one of two kinds. I either had the teachers that knew how to solve every equation without effort--and they could explain to you step by step how to solve it--but if you were confused--they could never explain to you how to see it differently. Then there were the teachers that could take a math problem and help you understand it in a way you could get. Moving around a lot I had more of the former than the latter but it made me appreciate the latter even more.

    I guess I had enough good teachers to embrace math...and I still do to this day. I love numbers, number patterns, word problems, anything to challenge my brain!!

    Cheers, Jenn

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    1. Jenn, you were lucky to have some good teachers early on. I think mine ruined me. If I would have had the teacher I had for Algebra in college in 9th grade it would have been a whole different ball game. Not that I would have become some nerdy math geek, but I might have taken more math classes in high school and learned to excel more. Thank you for stopping by to read and for your kind comments! ♥

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  6. Gosh I remember the maths problems hidden in stories...it really didn't help! I especially remember one when I was learning algebra that was about building a pen for a goat - I answered the whole thing with "I would NEVER buy a goat so don't need a pen!" That smart ass remark got me 3 weeks of detention.

    I hated math!

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    1. Loki-Lou, I hated story problems so much!! LOL I would get that deer in the headlights look and would be lost. They confused me so much!! I can't believe you pulled that goat remark! I bet that teacher was so pi$$ed. LMAO!! No wonder you got detention. Thank you for stopping in to read and for your kind comments!♥

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  7. I always enjoyed maths, and even though she didn't have a clue when I started to learn decimals, my Mum (who left school at 12) was a wizz at mental arithmetic and helped teach me some good shortcuts to help add and subtract numbers.

    It was only when I got to study my A levels at school (advanced exams) and moved onto things like calculus that I found maths was getting too hard for me.

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    1. Tony, that is amazing that your mum was so sharp at mental arithmetic! WOW. I can do some maths in my head, but I am much better if I can write it down. Calculus is just scary. Thank you for stopping by to read and for your kind comments!! So pleased you stopped by!♥

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  8. high school math has sure caused a lot of people to dislike numbers!

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    1. Kelly, I agree completely!! Thank you for stopping by to read and for your kind comments! ♥

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  9. I was bad at Math too and happily parted ways with it after high school. Yet more and more these days, I'm finding out life is really made of numbers. The joke must really be on me.

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    1. Anne, That is what I discovered!! I can not believe how much math I use every single day!! Course if someone would have told me back then that I would be writing for the fun of it, I would have laughed them right out of the room. I guess you just never know! Thank you for stopping by to read and for your kind comments! ♥

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