Mar 31 2010
What I learned from Math
This will sound really geeky, but I love Math. And it really annoys me when I hear people (and students) say that math isn’t important because:
- we have calculators now!!
- we’ll never use geometry after high school.
- we can pay our accountants to do our taxes.
This just shows me that most people misunderstand what math is. It’s NOT about the numbers. You can hate numbers and love math (theoretically). But calculation with numbers is an essential tool to help you build your math skills.
And what exactly ARE these math skills that I’m talking about? What did math teach me?
1. It taught me to think in abstract terms. I mean REALLY abstract.
Even in lower level math you can see the benefit of this. Imagine 78 cars. Now imagine adding 34 cars to that. Can you imagine it in your head? How many cars do you have now?
As you can see, its ridiculously hard to count the number of imagined cars in your head. Math abstracts it and just makes you add the numbers (giving you 112 cars). Even this low level of abstraction allows us to simplify complicated problems and deal with complicated thoughts. Multiply that ability by 100 or so. Thank god for math. I would’ve been quite dumb otherwise.
After all, our brains are quite limited. I honestly can’t picture 112 cars in my head accurately. Math helps me explain those ideas in abstract terms. More complicated mathematical functions have allowed me to abstract even deeper ideas.
It’s probably the only reason I can understand complicated ideas, philosophies and world views.
2. It taught me to simplify and remove whatever is irrelevant.
A math problem can very well give you 30 pieces of information. Maybe only 4 are used to find the answer. The other 26 pieces of information? Completely useless. They clutter your brain and make you think much more than you have to. They make a simple problem look so much more complicated.
When you can do math, it means you know how to sift through data to find only the information that is relevant. All the irrelevant stuff is thrown away.
Now look at life. It turns out a lot of choices we can make and a lot of things we can worry about are irrelevant. Remove that and life seems so much simpler (and definitely more enjoyable).
3. It taught me to only calculate the variables that are in my control.
In math we have two main things. Constants and Variables. Constants are things that cannot and will not change. It’s out of your control. It’s just the way life is. Don’t bother about them. When chance gives you the opportunity to cross it out, then do so.
I do this in life too. I try not to worry about things I have no control over. Usually I don’t bother thinking about them. Sometimes, life gives me a chance to remove some of these worries. I try to take them.
Variables are the things that ARE changeable. Sometimes they’re not fully in your control. But you can affect them. These are the things worth worrying about, to make your life a better one.
4. It taught me to deal with things one at a time.
It’s basically impossible to deal with multiple problems at once. You can’t focus on more than one thing at a time, so how do you deal with extremely complicated problems that have many factors that affect them? You deal with it methodically, mathematically, scientifically (which all pretty much mean the same thing).
So you break it down into tinier problems that you can solve one at a time. Example: you’re given
y = 3x + 4z
It’s too complicated to find what ‘y’ is straight away. So we break it down and find ‘x’ first. Then later we find ‘z’. Then after that it becomes a lot easier to find ‘y’. (If you have no idea what I’m saying it’s fine… No, it’s not fine! Everyone should know basic Math!)
Conclusion
Math helps on so many level, least of all with calculations. You can do calculations with a calculator, or with a computer. Maths is more than that.
It’s about looking at a problem and understanding it. It’s about picking out the causes of that problem. It’s about knowing what information can help you solve it and what info is just cluttering your mind. It’s about writing all that down in a mathematical form so that it can be solved much much easier (remember adding up the imagined cars?).
Math is about solving problems.
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Apr 01, 2010 @ 14:15:07
I love (simple) math too! Have you heard of kakuro! It's like Sudoku but more operational! Or is that ken ken? I forgot. Look em up!
Apr 02, 2010 @ 02:57:10
Ooh. Sounds interesting! I will definitely do so. How come I've never heard of this Ken Ken? *opens a new window to wiki it*
Apr 03, 2010 @ 03:23:37
TRUE!! TRUE!!! and i dont know abt other subjects but i find math especially importantly if u study law. some ppl just dont understand and think that ppl should take up law if they're bad at math, but that is SO untrue. ppl usually think that math is all abt numbers which is not true at all kan??? math helped me alot!
Apr 08, 2010 @ 10:41:58
Yeah, exactly! Math helps all sorts of people in all kinds of fields. I'm so glad we learned math.
@everyone else: Areej is my sister and the best example for this article! The girl who hates numbers but is excellent at math.
Apr 09, 2010 @ 05:55:52
hahahahhahaaa!!! dan lagi kutuk aku, mujo mung puji jugok in the same sentence. klu x aku kepuk paler hahaha.
betol, i hate numbers. sakit perut dgr nombor byk2.
Apr 05, 2010 @ 00:30:38
Wonderful perspective Lutfi! I too, though I am ashamed to admit, was one of those who shunned maths after school. I've come to realize how learning the basics helped me made so much more sense of the world armed with only a brain!
I sure hope to give my kid an entire hangar of cars to teach him/her basic counting though. Cars to donate, anyone?
Apr 08, 2010 @ 10:43:22
Thanks Matiin.
Here's a porsche and an aston martin. Anything for math!
Apr 09, 2010 @ 05:59:50
eh matiin mung buleh anok doh ke?
Apr 09, 2010 @ 07:27:34
Dok lagi, bule tujoh insha Allah. Aku dgor kabor mung pung ekspekting jugok! Baby tubik dkt tanoh omputeh ko nnanti?
Apr 20, 2010 @ 03:59:51
ye ke?? congrats! ho…aku duk tanoh mat saleh ni je..x g mne pong. bulan 8 kekgi. anok mung branok di tanoh arab ke? fullamak. best tuh. moga selamat semuanya.