maths, special for you
Maths fact of the day:
You probably know that when you have a divided by b, then a is the
dividend, and b is the divisor.
But, did you know that when you add a to b, then both a and b are addenols? When you multiply, you have a multiplicand and a multiplicator. Anyone care to venture a guess what the names are for subtraction?
This is probably only a fact for Americans, but in Britain they say Maths for Mathematics! I like it. It's called Maths from now on in my book.
I'm just getting back into maths, after a relatively disastrous experiment with them in High School. My guide in this endeavor is one Natasha Kholomiyeva, a teacher at North Seattle Community College.
She is a fine woman, who doesn't speak English all that well, but appears to have a fairly good sense of humor, which makes up for a lot in my book. When someone complained that they couldn't understand her, and was afraid of asking her to repeat herself, she replied, "I am traditional teacher. I can repeat again and again and again without wishing to kill."
We have Problem Sets that are basically long-term, take-home tests, and then homework. The Problem Sets are graded, but the homework is not. At first I wasn't sure what the difference was between the two, and when I asked to confirm whether the homework was graded or not, she replied, "If you want me to look at your homework, do not worry, I will go over it. Special for you."
Comments
Sounds like good parenting skills too:
"I can repeat again and again and again without wishing to kill." That's actually a pretty difficult social skill to acheive. Drives ME nuts!
Do you really want your homework graded "special for you"?
Posted by: rzan | January 8, 2003 2:23 PM
The "special for you" was definately said with an implied wink. I don't even want to DO my homework, much less have it gone over with a fine tooth comb. She just misunderstood and thought I wanted the opportunity to have my stuff looked at. She was trying to be both reassuring and give me a hard time at the same time. That's what I liked about her.
Posted by: Daniel Talsky | January 8, 2003 2:59 PM
wow you said "maths" instead of "math"! how cool is that!? just like an aussie.
Posted by: shauna | January 8, 2003 3:28 PM
or like a brit, like you say. but i choose to think of it as aussie. hehe.
Posted by: shauna | January 8, 2003 3:29 PM
You most certainly DO want your stuff looked at, just not by your maths teacher.
Posted by: Little Joe | January 9, 2003 11:13 PM
Some call it math, mathematics, maths, or the kind of words that are replaced by random punctuation in the comics.. %^%@%@%! College Algebra....
Posted by: Bill | January 11, 2003 4:56 PM
I believe the translation there from dear Bill is, GOOD LUCK with the f'n maths.
Posted by: Little Joe | January 11, 2003 11:52 PM