Top 10 Reasons I Like Math

I feel it is time I indulge into the notorious past time of bloggers (namely, Valerie, Elika, and Meghan) with a top 10 list of my own.  So here I go.

Top 10 reasons I like* math

1) It’s black and white.  There is one right answer, and everything else is wrong.  In a world colored in various shades of grey, the comfort of having this one thing as ether RIGHT or WRONG is very reassuring**.

2) It’s practical.  You can use it for just about anything.

3) Once you understand it, it’s easy!

4) You can draw a picture for everything, and who doesn’t like pictures?

5) You can model just about anything with a function: daylight, populations, profits...

6) There aren’t exceptions to the rules like in English.

7) If you’re good at it people think you’re smart.

8) You don’t have to study and memorize things for tests, you just do the problem.

9) There are always multiple ways to reach the same answer, you’ve got options.

10) You can use it to predict the future.

Pi Alley in downtown Boson.  I actually had to go here for my journalism class...
But I figured it applied to this post as well

And because I’m sure Valerie is thinking right now that I have completely defaced the wonderful reality of top 10 lists by using one to promote math, I will, for Valerie’s sake write another.

Top 10 reasons I dislike* math

1) I got assigned 5 sections of calculus homework today.

2) Math is no longer just numbers, there are so many letters and symbols it may as well be English class.

3) Proof.

4) The fact that you can do a huge giant problem and do all the calculus right and then miss one tiny addition step somewhere and get the whole thing wrong.

5) You can’t graph 3 dimensional functions in your notebook.

6) Before you understand it, it’s hard.

7) All those algebra rules you learned so long ago and don't remember? Yeah they still apply.

8) There are lots of things that you think should work, but they don’t, so you just get the problem wrong.

9) There is no opposite of a square***.

10) I could be completely done with math right now, like no more classes in my life, but I’m not.

And there you have it.  My top 10 reasons for liking and disliking math.  Agree with me or not, I don’t really care, but I do think that math automatically gets a shutout that’s not necessarily fair.  What’d it ever do to you?  Ha, besides lower your GPA.  Hope this at least then makes you think about it!  And maybe even laugh.

 ~Emily

* I feel it is safer here to use “like” and “dislike” than “love” and “hate" for a number of reasons. 1) If you love math people think you’re a nerd, 2) If you hate math people just think you’re stubborn and are refusing to try – DIE MATH DIE, and 3) Like and dislike seemed like a happy medium.

**I’m a little worried that I find my security in math…

***To clarify: The shape.  This was actually a line from catch-phrase the other night, which is why I put it in there.  My favorite line of the night however: Me: "It's where you sell your kidney!"  Maureen: "Craigslist!" umm... no.