[Techtalk] math and programming

[No Body]

>Unfortunately, most folks don't have a mentor (spouse
>or not) who will 
>nudge
>them far enough to hit that discovery......


I had a somewhat-similar experience. One of my
friends' friends is a math major working on his M.A.
in something 'mathy'. He found out one day that I
didn't know calculus and had a small hissy fit(: He
sat down with one of my friend's large whiteboards and
proceeded to teach me calculus. I warned him that I'd
only passed grade 10 math because I got a nosebleed on
the final exam (from stress) and bled all over the
paper. He told me not to be silly and it wasn't really
that hard. And, funnily enough, it wasn't... when
explained by a person who actually *knew WHY* things
worked and could follow your line of questioning in
any direction you needed to go to get the concept. 

I don't blame any of my math teachers (necessarily),
as teaching math to a class-full of pre-teens is
probably the most boring and insipid job ever... I
just wish someone had sat down with me in highschool
who had that kind of patience and knowledge.


~Melanie

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