When Good Math Goes Bad
Thursday, June 16, 2005 by Mel
I used to hate math. Elementary math didn't give me any trouble, but 5th grade was a turning point, and now it is my enemy. I could say that I had some bad teachers (which is entirely true...anyone from my school would agree), but that's not a helpful excuse. Now, instead of just hating math, I hate that I don't understand math.
As an administrative assistant for civil engineers, I'm up to my eyeballs in pay estimates, change orders, and other math-filled forms. My trusty TI-34 calculator (the same one I've had since 7th grade math) is close at all times because I don't trust myself to come up with correct figures. I don't know why my brain never could understand math. Some of you probably think that's crazy. I made it through college without a single math-related class. The only reason was that during freshman orientation we all took a math test (I took the harder one; I don't remember how.) to determine our mathmatical abilities. Well, I passed it, and poof, no math classes necessary for this English major.
I try to warn my bosses that I'm mathmatically inept, but they don't always review paperwork when I ask them to, and that comes back to bite me. I don't enjoy admitting when I'm deficient in a certain area, but I will gladly advertise my math weaknesses. Three such math instances have recently arisen, and while the errors are somewhat my fault, I believe that blame also lies with the engineers who did not review (as they should have) before they signed. Inevitably, the blame falls on me (and it's heavy), and I end up looking stupid in front of clients. I hate that.
If you are still at an age where you can choose to learn math via the basic techniques (i.e., school, in one form or another), then by all means, do it. Even if you imagine that "when you grow up" you will have some fantastically fabulous occupation that doesn't even require you to know 2+2, trust me, you'll need it more than you realize.
Enjoy your day (and your math, if you still can).
As an administrative assistant for civil engineers, I'm up to my eyeballs in pay estimates, change orders, and other math-filled forms. My trusty TI-34 calculator (the same one I've had since 7th grade math) is close at all times because I don't trust myself to come up with correct figures. I don't know why my brain never could understand math. Some of you probably think that's crazy. I made it through college without a single math-related class. The only reason was that during freshman orientation we all took a math test (I took the harder one; I don't remember how.) to determine our mathmatical abilities. Well, I passed it, and poof, no math classes necessary for this English major.
I try to warn my bosses that I'm mathmatically inept, but they don't always review paperwork when I ask them to, and that comes back to bite me. I don't enjoy admitting when I'm deficient in a certain area, but I will gladly advertise my math weaknesses. Three such math instances have recently arisen, and while the errors are somewhat my fault, I believe that blame also lies with the engineers who did not review (as they should have) before they signed. Inevitably, the blame falls on me (and it's heavy), and I end up looking stupid in front of clients. I hate that.
If you are still at an age where you can choose to learn math via the basic techniques (i.e., school, in one form or another), then by all means, do it. Even if you imagine that "when you grow up" you will have some fantastically fabulous occupation that doesn't even require you to know 2+2, trust me, you'll need it more than you realize.
Enjoy your day (and your math, if you still can).
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The older I get, the worse I get at Math. Imagine if we still remembered everything we ever learned in school. We'd be geniuses.