#3 My Life as a Mathematician

OK, I must confess, I have always loved math. All the way through school it came easily and I always made good grades. I actually enjoyed solving all types of problems. There was always a correct answer even if there were several different ways to find it. Just follow the numerical path and solutions appear.

Two things I remember about math class.....

Every Friday in the 4th grade we had a test that consisted of ten word problems. After the test we swapped papers, used our red pen and graded the papers as the teacher told us the answers. When our papers were returned, the teacher then called out our names in alphabetical order and we had to tell her our test grade out loud in front of the whole class. Even with a good score, this was mortifying to me.

In 10th grade I fell asleep in my favorite math teacher's class and he threw an eraser at me. I was totally embarrassed, but his class was still one of my favorites.

My love affair ended my freshman year in college with calculus. The first few weeks seemed to be a review of things I already knew and I was still easily completing my assignments. Then my professor gave us a placement test and I scored very well. I was put into the "advanced" group. After my first hour in the advanced class was over, so was my understanding of calculus. I never grasped another concept, try as I might(oh that pesky little sigma). I went to individual tutoring, I studied for hours on end, nothing helped. The only thing that made the class bearable was that the professor could roll a cigarette with one hand while he taught which was interesting to watch. And he was the head of the Canoeing and Outing Club, so we had adventures together outside of the classroom. This professor passed me with a D, which was higher than my earned average, but he knew I was trying as hard as I possibly could. The D was a genuine gift and Calculus was the last math class I ever took.

I will still tell you today that I love math. Even Calculus did not stifle the romance.

I use math daily in my job as we use data to justify all of our placement and intervention decisions. We discuss things like the bottom quartile, class averages and graphing. It comes in handy when figuring out sale prices, and I always like to find a bargain. I am in charge of artist merchandise at two music festivals a year. I have to keep track of things like CD's, DVDs, t-shirts, and bumper stickers as sales can total up to $25,000 over a three day weekend. Accuracy is important when dealing with other people's money! I also use math to take care of my own finances.

Yes understanding and using math is a daily necessity. Thank goodness I always had knowledgeable and interesting and caring math teachers. Hats off to you Mr. Hazen and Dean Puckette. Your math is still with me today.

PS-I know maybe you probably don't believe me. After all this is blog challenge #3and I never did blog challenge #2. Perhaps I can't even count! But it's like this, I have no class, so I have no class poll. Simple, but true, and a true cop out...