So the person who inspired this series on Algebra is my dear friend Michele “Wojo” Wojciechowski – a very funny writer and stand-up comic. In her honor, I thought I’d wrap things up with a post looking at the humorous side of algebra.
The classic answer to the question, “When am I going to use algebra?” is spreadsheets. Now I will admit straight up — I am a spreadsheet junkie. I’ll build one for just about anything, from menu planning to blog schedules to
There must be a special circle of hell for those of us planning our weddings and receptions. I know this first-hand, because I’m planning my own nuptials for this summer, and I’m about to pull my hair out. (No wait! If I
So I’ve been harping on the fact that math is flexible. And I’ve also said more than once that we do the math that we need to do. (No one here is suggesting that calculus computations are necessary for everyday
Parks and Recreation, the Amy Poeler-driven mocumentary on NBC about a small-town parks department, features a tightly wound character, Chris Traeger, whose favorite word is literally – as in: “Biking for charity is literally one of my interests on Facebook.” It’s funny because it
Math is black-and-white, with right-or-wrong answers. It’s hard to color outside the lines in math. While I often argue with this point, there is some truth to it. Just like grammar, chemistry and baking, math is a pretty precise subject
A Math for Grownups follower asked me earlier this week to define algebra, and I thought that was an excellent place to start this month-long discussion. I think that most people might be surprised by what is generally found under the
Hating on algebra is all the rage these days. From New York Times editorials to cute little Facebook images, it seems that we’re settling into a big assumption: algebra is not useful to the average person. For the most part, this idea