« Turtle (May 28, 2005)
Jacks Fork River »

Mathematics FAQ

For those unsure of what exactly mathematicians do, Ars Mathematica has answered several of your questions. A highlight:

Question: Mathematics was my least favorite subject in high school/college.

Answer: I'm not an expert in communicating in English (not enough Greek letters), but I believe that this is not actually a question. But trust me, mathematics was our least favorite subject in high school and college too. But it wasn't until graduate school that we learned exactly how much you can hate a subject, and yet still keep taking classes in it.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 31st, 2005 at 10.09 am and is filed under Mathematics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

2 Responses to “Mathematics FAQ”

  1. Karen Karen Says:
    2005-06-02 at 12.22 am

    Wow, that page sure revealed some of my misconceptions! I didn't know mathematicians couldn't help balance my checkbook. What about game theorists? I guess they couldn't they tell me what those horsies are for in my chess set, could they?

  2. Kevin Kevin Says:
    2005-06-02 at 12.22 am

    It's completely true. The reason I'm sure I'll be a great mathematician is because I've never even tried to balance my checkbook. (I hope Bank of America isn't reading this.)

    Combinatorial game theorists will tell you that the horses can be replaced by a game with matches, but must be safer since your mother never warned you against playing with horses.