Flattening Curves: Math Circles Around and Around and...

Within Minutes, Limits: On 11-12-21, that is, within just one segment of "News Day" on BBC, I listened casually (at first, intently as the segment proceeded) to math related topics, that began with yet another update on COP26 ("United Nations Climate Change Conference, this being the 26th conference on this subject, not to be confused with the year) which included the modest attempt to limit, slow down global warming at a clip of 1.5 degrees Celsius per year...and then proceeded to break down with more mathematical analysis the proportion of countries that accounted for more warming and pollution, compared to those who have contributed (or should) financially...which left you with mantra "you do the math!" Finally, the analyst conceded that "The best we can hope for is flattening the curve" Deja vu! Paralleling the early, almost daily application of curve flattening to COVID cases, studies of epidemiology. I thought that 2020 was going to be the year of curve flattening but I guess we're back in the classroom, how to apply various branches of math to everyday problems, as well as how highly relevant the various branches are, despite so many students claiming otherwise, as in...     

"I Hate Math; I suck at Math!" The same young man on the same day, in the same hour, upon leaving my office, casually mentioning, "I gotta' go home now and finish my parlays from last night, to finish my sports betting" Which I couldn't help jumping on, "You mean based on probabilities of winning, estimating, analytics?" "Yeah, I guess" A common encounter, a person who does not appreciate how ubiquitous math and mathematical thinking is beyond the more traditional math instruction we received as part of our 'core curriculum'. This, often from the same people who otherwise strike me as logical which, of course, is intimately related to math: mathematical logic emerged in the mid-19th Century as a subfield of two traditions, formal philosophical logic and mathematics. If you have followed this blog for a sustained period, you have likely read other attempts to counter-condition the underappreciation as well as under-awareness of uses for math, that we are all human calculators.  

Branching Off, All Inclusive: As an educational psychologist, observing and analyzing both individuals and group data over four decades, it is my strong impression that a large part of the misunderstanding and dislike for this subject (math) comes from one of the most common forms of psychological distortion, which is overgeneralization. In this case, thinking that just because ("I suck") at one of the branches of math, such as (alphabetical order, not "order of operations"): Algebra, Arithmetic, Calculus, Geometry, and Trigonometry. It's common for students in earlier grades, for example, who have struggled to memorize the times tables, multiplication facts (BORING!), who find out later they are actually proficient at 'higher order', more abstract math involving formulas, etc. (COOL!). I wonder where you fall in these areas and whether you got unnecessarily turned off, convinced you could not learn this subject without intense tutoring (if you need more convincing watch "Stand and Deliver", 1988). And, if you are still finding yourself ill at ease when/if you are called upon, told to go to the blackboard to demo, a smidgen of...

Arithmophobia! AKA Numerophobia: "...a condition, an anxiety disorder involving a fear of dealing with numbers or mathematics. Sometimes involving fear of a particular number..." (Strong preference for certain numbers is more like OCD😊). If this degree of fear fits your profile you can either a) visit a psychologist; b) try to stay away from numbers altogether; c) immerse yourself in numbers (massive exposure to a feared stimulus, one method in behavior modification); or, of course, d) a combination of "all the above". This fear may be experienced more often by those experiencing "Dyscalculia", (sort of the math version of the more familiar reading disorder "Dyslexia"): "...a disorder which makes mathematical reasoning and computations difficult..." Based on figures available today, at first glance, it would seem that many such challenged individuals are finding their way into the "Office of Management and Budget". On second glance, rechecking my work (always a good idea with math), it is disproportionately (more math😄) present these days among those drafting, voting on the budget...whereupon those in the OMB, the executive office of the White House, find themselves scratching their heads until bleeding: "No matter how you slice it, what angle you look at these figures, they just don't seem to add up!" 

Flattening Our Curves: A subject that will be sure one of high interest in the next few months, as we get ready to indulge big time through the holidays, followed by attempts to, over the winter months around here at least, regain our beach bodies (as in "Beach Body On Demand Workouts!"), make resolutions to shed pounds, thereby flattening our stomachs in particular. And then there's all that credit card interest many will calculate...

What goes around; One good turn...Going almost full circle, on behalf of the young man who declared his disdain for math, I bring him a commercial message: "Knowing your limits is your best bet" (a public service attachment to another that invites, entices sports betting) which, in turn requires some shrewd estimating, calculating, which in turn depends to no small degree on MATH...see???

Math, it's all around us; can't escape it. May as well get better at it; even learn to ENJOY!