JUST Hear Me Out!

I'm serious!  When I start talking about why I like math, people smile warmly...and then run away.  I'm not SCARY, right?  Well, not TOO scary.  And math... is awesome, right?

It's not even like I adore math for a mathy reason.  *pushes nerdy glasses up on nose and quotes*  "Erm, there's only one right answer.  I like that."  Or "Numbers are shineeeee."  No, I like math because you can do awesome things with it!  It's like I've been waiting my whole life just to get the cool stuff!  It's so exciting!!

You should have heard me when I first started USING logarithms.  As in they actually end up being useful in the end, instead of just instruments of torture to math-haters.  I yelled, "Logarithms can go BACKWARDS???"  Excitement.

Or the fact that you can find the area of the inside of a curve?  Um, am I the only one who sees this amazing-ness in this?

How about trig identities?  They're like logical syllogisms, but with math!  They're like the brainteaser thinking-skill activities we've been doing since Grade 2!  How is this not awesome??

Really, though.  I honestly think most of the "I hate math," and "Math hates me," and "I'm deathly allergic to matrices!  Gaaah!" is purely psychological.


La hermana couldn't take vitamins when she should have because she convinced herself that she couldn't swallow them, and that they would taste bad.  Cause No End of Trouble, let me tell you!

I was THE pickiest eater for the longest time, until I started training my brain.  I'd smell something cooking, and tell myself, "Heeeeeeyy, this doesn't smell so bad!"  And then later, "This is going to taste great!"  Bang, all of a sudden, I like all these foods I never would have touched.  Makes life so much easier, yes?

So why won't the same thing work on math?  Focus on the exciting parts.  It's really not boring, tedious sometimes, but not boring.  And so much of it is really really  interesting!  It's lovely to see things falling into place, to check your answer and go, "Hey!  It really works!"

And a long sheet of composite functions can work wonders on a headache or a bad mood. :)  Trust me, I've tried it on multiple occasions. :)

AMZi x x x x x

PS: yes, I was incredibly nerdy and embroidered a graph on a sheet of notebook paper.  Fear me.
PSS: A couple people have asked me where I got the idea for the signal flags on my handkerchief project.  I love all things to do with the sea, and had known about nautical signal flags for awhile, and like them a lot.  Then I just got the idea to embroider them!  :)