I heard a theory on the news the other day that women are worse at math than men.
I personally cannot argue that fact. I was a total imbecile in what we called maths in school in the U.K. I am not going to tell you the scores I got in each of the three subjects, arithmetic, algebra and geometry. emember I said "imbecile".
I can add, subtract and divide and multiply, which is just about all that is needed to function in daily life, but when it comes to complicated percentages and fractions, forget it. I have no idea how to work out what percentage 67 is of 193. Or what was the original number if 97 is 73% of it.
Today I did a market report on Echo Park but since it is lumped together with Silver Lake, I couldn't get a ready-made one, so I had to work it out myself. I was able to work out the average days on the market - I am good at averages - but I did not have a clue how to calculate the median price.
Not to be outdone I looked it up.
I thought would try and seem intelligent by passing that little tidbit on to my female friends. Men, you may skip this, as I am sure you all know it.
If you have an even number, 11, 15, 32, 34, 50, 53, you take the middle two numbers (32, 34) add them up (66) and divide by 2. Your median is 33.
If there are odd numbers the median is the number in the middle.
Wow, you learn something every day. You are welcome!
Lori, it most certainly would be. Can you imagine where we would be without mathematicians. Thanks for dropping by.
Hi Jane,
I too love to come to your post because your posts always make me smile. You made me think of my dad who always worked with me on my math homework..every night. He was very good with numbers and always presented it another way that was somehow easier! I know he is the reason I did well with math!
I love math and numbers. Does that make me less of a woman? : ) -- Tanya in Montreal
Sheldon, I am sure you can relate. Would the now. 15, 16, 17 mean anything to you?
Dorie, where was your Dad when I needed him?
Tanya, I'm confused. You like English too. You are a mutant!
I love numbers and math - brains are hardwired differently - what I've learned in HOW GOD CHANGES YOUR BRAIN is that you ca rewire your brain - with everything from yawning to meditation to exercise to interactions with people. I do recall that a certain part of a woman's brain is larger than a man's - in general - and that part has to do with emotion - nurturing and fear.
Janice, I am happy with my brain the way it is :) That is interesting info, Janice. I envy people who can get into all this meditation, self-exploration stuff. I don't have the patience. :)
... well those we're the ages that I experienced many 'firsts' but other than that, enlighten me on those numbers !!!
Jane: Not sure if it boils down to a male or female thing ... I'm not a brave enough man to get into that discussion. But I will relate this to you ... my wife says numbers and math actually make her physically dizzy. She is not being facetious at all ... she says her mind literally whirls ... and has as long as she can remember. She will not play games that involve that kind of mind game or work ... and complains that it just frustrates her to do so. Now me ... love 'em ... so how that actually can be interpreted regarding the male/female brain ... not sure ... Fun and interesting post!
Gene
Lucky for me that Janice is a math genious! She says that the numbers just talk to her. The only thing that talks to me is the TV. Like I said, lucky SHE is a genious!
Jane, It's LATE on Wordless Wednesday.... the TIP is great! Fun to read the comments as well! Lots of fun Jane followers.
Hi Jane ~ Not a male / female thing I don't think. I love math. Not that it's all that difficult but my new obsession is KenKen - similar to Sudoko but waaaaaay better - it's a fill in the rows and columns by computations. It's the first thing I turn to in the paper.
Liz
Liz, Sudoku is actually logic, another thing I am not good at. Haven't heard of Ken Ken. Will look out for it.
Liz, Sudoku is actually logic, another thing I am not good at. Haven't heard of Ken Ken. Will look out for it.
Hi Jane, I help my son with his math homework most everynight, he's from Thailand and has been her 2 1/2 years and doesn't read well enough to understand his math homework. I was a math major so most of it comes pretty easy, but Im occassionaly stumped by his 7th grade math. Wish they would spend more time on the basics rather than algebra and geometry.
Michael, I could have done with just the basics also. The rest completely lost me.
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