You ever have one of those days where you realize something that, in hindsight, has been blindingly apparent for years?
Much to the dismay, I’m sure of my pro mathemetician friend Eric, I must now confess, that I hate math.
I took plenty of math in school. I took those college correspondence courses in high school. I was all geared up to be an Engineer. I think people think of me as a “mathy” guy, but I’m actually not. I can just finally admit it.
I identify completely with this quote from Lewis on the subject:
I could never have gone far in any science because on the path of every science the lion of Mathematics lies in wait for you. Even in Mathematics, whatever could be done by mere reasoning (as in simple geomtry) I did with delight; but the moment calculation came in I was helpless. I grasped the principles but my ansers were always wrong. Yet though I could never have been a scientist, I had scientific a well as imaginative impulses, and I love ratiocination [the process of exact thought].
-C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy, p.137
Oh the agony. I remember doing my calculus homework and getting 100% of the answer right, but it took me three to four times longer to do it than my peers, from making calculation errors. The more calculating parts of music theory were sometimes the same way.
People think I use math now at my job, as a database programmer. Ha! Whatever. I write programs that do all the work for me. I don’t calculate a dang thing, unless it’s a quick estimate with the calculator of how many itterations something is going to take. Basic statistics. All good stuff.
I hate math though. I feel better about not becoming an engineer now.
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May 28th, 2009 at 6:13 AM
I’m with Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes). As a Math Atheist I am exempt on religious grounds.
May 28th, 2009 at 3:26 PM
Dang straight.
June 6th, 2009 at 3:22 AM
I, too, am often thought of as a math person. I’ve even helped others grasp mathematics they were struggling with (never took calculus, though). But I’m much more of a literature and poetry person (writing lyrics and playing music were my only real talents). But because I tend to try to understand issues from all sides, people seem to assume I’m more methodical and calculating than I actually am.
So, I don’t quite hate math, I very much understand we’re CSL is coming from.
And I love MathAtheist’s Calvin and Hobbes quote. Classic.
June 8th, 2009 at 4:34 PM
Ha, too true. How many times upon discussing music have people said, “Oh, your a musician, so you’re good at math right?” Um yeah, right. I can subdivide quarter notes pretty well. Oh, and I can count to eight without actually thinking about it. Real handy for math, right? No.