Seen on Facebook: a T-shirt that says
Well, another day has passed and I didn’t use algebra once.
The person who posted it observed, “Still holds true!”
My fingers have been hovering over that comment button…that’s because there’s algebra right on my kitchen whiteboard, algebra that I use almost every day.
Algebra for diabetics and the people who love them. Because sometimes a person just doesn’t want a whole serving of something, and then you have to do some math.
I can’t afford to indulge the thought that algebra is useless and that I haven’t thought about it once since I took the GREs in 1986.
It’s more useful than you think.
I’m not bitter about having to use algebra. I’m grateful that my husband has a better grasp on it than I do, because he took several semesters of calculus, so he helped work out the formula that comes in handy when The Kid wants something other than the labeled serving size of a particular food. I’m grateful that I can remember a little bit of algebra, thanks to my long-suffering Algebra 2 teacher who never gave up on me.
And I wish, very sincerely, that the people who posted that photo of a T-shirt implying that algebra is useless never have a child with diabetes. I hope they never have to use algebra like I have to use algebra.
Yes, you did.
X = (the number of hours in a day)
Y = (the number of times you think you used algebra today)
C = (the minimum number of times I can guarantee you used algebra today)
If X = 24, Y = 0 and C = 1, then
XY+C=1
24×0 = 0 + 1 = 1
1 = (the minimum number of times I can guarantee you used algebra today)
[…] There’s a fine line between oversensitivity (and the inability to take a joke) and advocacy. I was reminded of that this morning when a friend of mine posted the same Facebook joke that inspired my post from July 2015 about algebra. […]