Every year for the past many years I have thrown a Pi party. March 14th. 3.14.
Because I like math that much.
March is a great time for a party. Most people throw their big holiday party in December (and I’ve done that too), that month can get real busy and stressful. But the only people who are stressed in mid-March are people named Caesar with friends named Brutus. By mid-March people are ready for a party again.
And I like pie.
There are a lot of reasons I like math, and always have. It makes sense. There are no exceptions to the rules like there are in English grammar. It is universal. It has a beauty all its own – the golden mean, palindromes, perfect numbers.
I have a hard time understanding people who don’t like math, yet I know they exist. I run into them frequently. And it’s rarely just a mild distaste for math. If a person does not like math it’s a feeling of great loathing.
Two months ago an article ran on Scientific American about how media does math a huge disservice – Keep it Simple, Stupid: Math Doesn’t Have to be “Complex”. When reporting about math it must be complex, difficult, enough to fill a wall of chalkboards with undecipherable scribblings. And people buy it. The TV says math is hard so people believe it is. Mathematicians in movies are rarely the heroes. Instead they are a side character that says confusing things the heroes don’t understand. (Yes, there are exceptions, but they are just that, exceptions.)
I grew up playing math games. Doing magic tricks that involved math. We need more of that in the media. More Pi Parties to make math more palatable.
Why do you like math (or pie)? Or, are you one of those who loathes it and can explain that to me?
I am an educator and PhD. I quilt, belly dance, run, read, and try to grow things. I am a Mormon. I am infertile. I am a daughter, sister, aunt, grand-daughter, friend, wife, and mom.
Brett L. Dennis
Mama g
Giggles
AmandaStretch
I recently read an article in The Atlantic that makes some good points about math as well…
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/10/the-myth-of-im-bad-at-math/280914/
It’s a MYTH!
I love math. The other day, a a math concept was the answer on Jeopardy and I got it correct before the contestant answers. I haven’t used that concept in a while (and I don’t even remember what it was right now), but I was rather proud that I still remembered it!
I bought a book on card tricks a few years ago, and was surprised to discover that a number of tricks are performed simply by applying a good memory and a little math. :brett:
I still remember a Math-magic trick that uses groups of seven. I preformed it at a Ward part a few years back. I still have the magic touch. 😀