Category: Math for Writers

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Math at Work Monday: Joe the Platform Consultant

In the IT field, there are many machines and programs that are really confusing and difficult to understand. Not only do we have to trust and depend on these machines, but also the people who service them. Joe Thompson is one of the good guys. He provides assistance to the users and companies when they need it most. From consulting to maintenance, Joe and his colleagues are there for us when our technology isn’t working quite right. (Joe is also one of my former geometry students. It’s been great to reconnect with him and see how accomplished he is now!)

Can you explain what you do for a living?

Red Hat’s consultants help customers get our products working when they have specific needs that go beyond the usual tech support.  We are essentially advanced computer system administrators on whatever our customers need us to be to get Red Hat’s products to work for them.  Common consulting gigs are setting up Red Hat Satellite to manage the customer’s servers, or doing performance tuning to make things run faster or a “health check” to verify things are running as efficiently as possible.

We just put out a marketing video about our consulting for public-sector clients, actually:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMzANG3Yhlk(We do more than just public sector and cloud, of course.)

When do you use basic math in your job?

The most common is when tuning a system to perform well, or configuring various things.  Unit conversions and base conversions are especially important.

IT has a long-running math issue actually: does “kilo” mean “1000” (a round number in base 10), or “1024” (a round number, 10000000000, in base 2)?  There are various ways people try to indicate which is intended, like using a capital K vs. a lowercase k, or using KiB vs. KB.  This matters in a lot of cases because when you get up into large data sizes, the difference between round numbers in base 10 and base 2 gets pretty big.  A 1-TB hard drive (a typical size today, maybe even a little small) is a trillion bytes — 1000 to the fourth power, not 1024 to the fourth power.  The difference is about 10% of the actual size of the drive, so knowing which base you’re dealing with is important.

Then there are units that have to be converted.  A common adjustment for better performance is tweaking how much data is held in memory at a time to be transmitted over the network, which is done by measuring the delay between two systems that have to communicate.  Then you multiply the delay (so many milliseconds) by the transmission speed (so many megabits or gigabits per second) and that gives the buffer size, which you have to set in bytes (1 byte = 8 bits) or sometimes other specified units.Sometimes software writers like to make you do math so they can write their code easier.  If a program has options that can either be on or off, sometimes a programmer will use a “bitfield” — a string of binary digits that represent all the options in a single number, which is often set in base 10.  So if you have a six-digit bitfield and want to turn off everything but options 1 and 6, you would use the number 33: 33 = 100001 in binary.

Do you use any technology (like calculators or computers) to help with this math? Why or why not?

I’ve always done a lot of arithmetic in my head and I can at least estimate a lot of the conversions without resorting to a calculator.  I’ll break out the calculator if the math is long and tedious though, like averaging a long column of numbers, or if I need a precise answer quickly on something like how many bytes are in 1.25 base-10 gigabits — I can do the billion divided by 8 and come out with 125 million bytes per base-10 gigabit, and then multiplying by 1.25 I know I’m going to be in the neighborhood of 150 million bytes, but I need the calculator to quickly get the exact answer of 156250000 bytes.  If I’m on a conference call about that kind of thing I’ll use the calculator more than otherwise.Google introduced a new feature a couple of years ago that will do basic math and unit conversions for you, so if I’m deep into things or just feeling lazy I can also just pull up a web browser and type “1.25 gigabits in bytes” in the search bar, and Google does it all for me.  But recently I noticed I was reaching for the calculator more, and arithmetic in my head was getting harder, so I’ve been making a conscious effort to do more head-math lately.

How do you think math helps you do your job better?

Without math, I couldn’t do my job at all 🙂 Even so little a thing as figuring out how long a file will take to transfer takes a good head for numbers.  As soon as you dig under the surface of the operating system, it’s math everywhere.

How comfortable with math do you feel? Does this math feel different to you ?

I’m pretty comfortable with math.  A lot of my off-time hobbies touch on computers too so it’s a lot of the same math as work even when I’m not working.

What kind of math did you take in high school? Did you like it/feel like you were good at it?

I took the standard track for an Advanced Studies diploma from grades 8-11 (Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, Advanced Math), plus AP Calculus my senior year, and always did well. I didn’t expect to like Geometry going in because it’s not one-right-answer like a lot of math, but I ended up enjoying the logical rigor of proofs.  (Though I do recall giving my Geometry teacher fits on occasion when my proofs took a non-standard tack…)

Did you have to learn new skills in order to do the math you use in your job? Or was it something that you could pickup using the skills you learned in school?

Most of it was learned in school, although base conversion isn’t something we spent a lot of time on.  I got good at it through long, frequent practice as you might guess…

Do you have a question for Joe? Send me your question and I will forward it to him.

Photo Credit: Dan Hamp via Compfight cc

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Math at Work Monday Math for Writers

Math at Work Monday: Karma the children’s book author

Do you know Bear of Bear Snores On and Bear Feels Sick? Or Pip of Where is Home Little Pip? If so, you also know my very talented friend, Karma Wilson. Karma has been a published author for 12 years (not including the three years it took for her to get published the first time). She is the author of 30 books, and begrudgingly, she admits to using math from time to time. 

Can you explain what you do for a living?

I write — specifically for the 4- to 8-year-old set. It is my goal to write engaging books and poetry for children that is also appealing enough to adults that they don’t hide it under the hamper lest it be requested again. To accomplish this I utilize rhyme, alliteration and two-tier humor that is directed to children on one level, adults on another.

When do you use basic math in your job?

I wrote a rhyming counting book (Frog in the Bog), does that “count”? It only went to five, which gives you a good idea of my math skills. Seriously though, in my line of work there is a lot of math that my literary agent mostly deals with. I have to pay him 15% of my income. My royalties are usually 6.5%. My publisher holds out profits from sales in case of large returns on my books, and that’s usually 25% of my royalties. All this adds up to a good reason for me to have an agent!

Do you use any technology (like calculators or computers) to help with this math?

If I have to do math I generally do use calculators, mainly because I’m a very wordsy, artistic type and math has never been a strong suit for me. In case of serious math questions I panic and turn my friends who know math, like the amazing Laura Laing!

Karma Wilson

How do you think math helps you do your job better?

Well, for me the biggest way is with word counts. If I have a story that goes over 1000 words I better darned well subtract a bunch of those words. Wordy picture books don’t typically sell very well. Also, my words need to fit into a formula, which translates to a 32-page book with end pages that have no words. It’s important that the words to my stories fall naturally and rhythmically into that formula, which sometimes requires a break down of words per page. Luckily, I am sort of “savant” in that area, and rarely do book dummies, but I know a lot of picture book writers who are lost without that breakdown.

How comfortable with math do you feel?

I don’t feel comfortable with math at all. The math that accompanies my work is relatively simple, so it doesn’t give me panic attacks. But for my taxes and running my corporation (Karma Wilson Books Incorporated) I get a little math-addled.  That’s when I turn to people who are more comfortable with math than I am, like accountants and agents.

What kind of math did you take in high school?

The highest I got to was pre-algebra. I was pretty horrible at it. That letter x never needed to fear I would discover his or her secret identity. Ha!

Did you have to learn new skills in order to do the math you use in your job?

Since I have an agent who does the hard math for me I was able to skate on my pre-algebra level skill set. However, if you’re in this industry trying to figure out the contractual stuff without an agent, you should at least have some basic accounting math skills. Otherwise, you’ll be lost in royalty rundowns and not know if your contract was fulfilled or not. It really is that important.

While my specific line of work isn’t all that math intensive, the times that I’ve wanted to understand my royalty statements were severely hampered by my fear of math. I strongly encourage every adult to refresh their math skills so they feel more confident discussing numbers with professionals in their industry.

Karma is on tour right now, promoting her newest book Bear Says Thanks. Her next stop is Denver CO at the Mountains and Plains Bookseller’s Association Author Tea on 9/21/12 at 3:45 p.m. 

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X to the Power of Huh? Or, How Math Anxiety Almost Ruined My Life

I’m betting that many of you dear readers will identify with today’s guest post from Lisa Tabachnick Hotta. Math anxiety may still dog some of us, but it doesn’t have to ruin our lives. Read my guest post on her blog here.

“Miss Tabachnick,” exclaimed my grade 8 math teacher.  “Please come up to the board and demonstrate how you obtained the answer to that equation; I’m sure the entire class will benefit from your explanation.”

Sweat trickled its way from my brow to my toes. Show the class? Now? At the chalk board? Somehow I must’ve squeaked out the answer because I did graduate – from grade 8, then from high school and ultimately obtained two university degrees. (My majors, of course, had absolutely nothing to do with math!)

Anxiety in all its sweaty glory – shaky hands, racing pulse, nausea – is pretty much the story of my life when it comes to math. Of course I’m rarely at a chalk (or smart) board deciphering mathematical problems these days as a writer, community volunteer and parent. But, you will often find me deep in “grownup” math conundrums.  Here are but a few examples:

  • Recently I was out for dinner with the girls and we were splitting the check. “Anne, you’re the accountant, you can figure out what we all owe,” I half-joked to one member of our group. She wasn’t amused. (Maybe it’s like the doctor who’s always getting asked for health tips at parties?) Her reluctance to assist me meant having to figure out not only what my drink, dinner and dessert cost but also my portion of the tax and tip – not at all easy for someone who’s math challenged!
  • My son who is (miraculously) gifted in math, asked me fairly simple questions in the car as a kind of numbers game: What’s 2 + 2, What’s 4 + 4, What’s 8 + 8, What’s 16 + 16, etc. Now, the first few questions? No problemo. But, as the numbers and queries got larger, I had to think harder to come up with the answers and, yes, that in turn increased my anxiety level.
  • Just today my kids and I were at a medical appointment. The administrator explained that receiving a response from the government to our query could take up to 30 weeks. I laughed along with the other adults who joked about government inefficiencies but, somewhere in my mind, I was still trying to figure out how many months equalled 30 weeks.

All joking aside, being mathematically challenged has caused me enormous stress. From hiring tutors throughout middle and high school, to being told (by that same grade 8 math teacher) that I’d never amount to anything because my math skills were so poor, to ensuring that I am charging clients appropriate rates on invoices – I’ll be forever haunted by issues around math.

So, how do I cope as a math-phobic adult? Luckily, I’ve learned to lean on my strengths – writing, communications and art. I also lean on calculators! Have you heard the expression, “fake it ‘til you make it”? I’ve also employed that strategy more than once. And, I’ve found that humor works well – I’ll just admit outright that math isn’t my forte and, while I’d be happy to volunteer as project manager or group leader, appointing me treasurer really isn’t the best idea.

Lisa Tabachnick Hotta is a professional writer, editor, social media expert and researcher who lives just north of Toronto, Ontario. Lisa specializes on topics related to health, mental health, family, the arts and society. Check out her blog: KidsAndMentalHealth.com.

What are your childhood memories of math anxiety? How does math anxiety influence your life now? How have you learned to get around it?

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Common Core Common Sense: Myths About the Standards, Part 4

In recent months, there’s been a tremendous amount of buzz regarding an educational change called Common Core. And a ton of that buzz perpetuates down-right false information. There’s so much to say about this that I’ve developed a five-part series debunking these myths — or outright lies, if you’re being cynical. This is the fourth in that series (read Myth 1, Myth 2 and Myth 3), which will continue on Wednesdays throughout August and into September. Of course, I’ll be writing from a math perspective. Photo Credit: Watt_Dabney via Compfight cc

Myth #4: The Standards Require More Testing

Perhaps the most controversial aspect of the U.S. education system is standardized testing. And for good reason. There are a myriad of problems with these tests–from their links to private companies to their use as teacher evaluation tools.

While I’ve said from the start that it’s not fair to judge the Common Core Standards based on their implementation in individual states, it’s also not fair to pretend that the standards and testing don’t go hand in hand. States aren’t abandoning standardized testing any time soon, so don’t hold your breath.

But what we do know for certain that the adoption of Common Core Standards does not mean more testing–in the long run. In fact, there is no testing requirement inherent in the adoption of Common Core. None!

However, as states move from previous standards to Common Core, there will be some changes in testing. First, student may take two sets of standardized tests–at first. In these situations, one test is the one aligned with the state’s previous standards. And students may take practice tests, based on the Common Core Standards. Usually this translates to more testing during one school year, with only one test score used for student placement or teacher and school evaluations.

Because the Common Core Standards focus on critical thinking, Common Core-aligned tests will probably look a little different than the all-multiple choice tests that we’re all used to. Students are required to show their work and may even be asked to explain how they came to their answers. Here’s a two-part example, which corresponds with the third grade math standards:

A. Fill in the blanks below to make a number sentence that represents the drawing:
________ x ________ = ________
B. Put the dots below into five equally sized groups and write an equation that represents the drawing.

•  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  

Answers:
A. 4 x 6 = 24 or 6 x 4 = 24 or 8 x 3 = 24 or 3 x 8 = 24, etc.
B.   •  •  •      •  •  •      •  •  •      •  •  •      •  •  •      •  •  • 
3 x 5 = 15 or 5 x 3 = 15 or 15 ÷ 3 = 5 or 15 ÷ 5 = 3

There’s something going in the above problems that’s difficult (or impossible) to measure with multiple choice questions. First, students are asked to draw as a way of problem solving. Second, there are multiple correct answers.

(Psst. Want to test your third grade or fifth grade math skills? Take one of the Math for Grownups math quizzes. No one has to know your score. Promise!)

So while Common Core does not eliminate testing or prevent test results from being used inappropriately, if the tests are well constructed–and dang, that’s a big if–students have a much better opportunity to demonstrate critical thinking and the open-ended nature of mathematics. That’s not more testing, that’s better testing.

Got a question about the Common Core Standards for Mathematics? Please ask! Disagree with my assessment above? Share it! And if you missed Myth #1, Myth #2 or Myth #3, you can find the here, here and here.

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Math at Work Monday Math for Writers

Math at Work Monday: Charlie the baseball writer

Anyone who knows anything about baseball knows that math plays a pretty big role. From how the pitcher releases the ball to the many stats that help rank the best players, the game depends on numbers. No one knows this better than Charlie Vascellaro. He’s been a freelance baseball (and travel) writer for 20 years. Here’s how he uses math in his work.

Can you explain what you do for a living?

I write baseball and travel feature stories for magazines, newspapers and web sites. A lot of my baseball writings are historical retrospective pieces that include statistical analysis and comparisons. In a recent story on this year’s National Baseball Hall of Fame inductee, Barry Larkin, I compared his batting statistics to those of other shortstops enshrined in the Hall of Fame. I also write spring training preview stories on major league baseball teams that rely heavily on statistical information used to explain each teams relative strengths and weaknesses and how they compare to other teams. I use this information to measure each teams’ relative prospects for the upcoming seasons. Last spring I wrote a feature story on current players chances of being elected to the Hall of Fame based on statistics produced so far and projections for the future (see excerpts below).

Jered Weaver, 29, had what could be described as a breakout season in 2011, reaching a career best with 18 victories and a 2.41 ERA. In six seasons, Weaver has compiled an 82-47 record, for a very Hall-of-Fame-like .632 winning percentage with a 3.31 ERA.  The 300-victory-pitcher is fast becoming an endangered species, and consequently, not a necessary prerequisite for the Hall, but Weaver would still have to maintain his current pace, and actually improve upon it a bit, to merit consideration for Cooperstown; a 20-win season or two would certainly improve his chances. 

            Of the current White Sox players, slugging first baseman/DH Paul Konerko compares favorably with Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda in similarity of scores posted on Baseball-Reference.com, and although he has not quite reached 400 home runs, (he’s currently at 396) he probably will this year. Konerko’s numbers are also similar to what Reggie Jackson’s were at the same age, and his .282 batting average is 20 points higher than Jackson’s .262 career mark. Jackson hit 39 home runs at age 36 and 99 home runs in his last 5 years on the field. Konerko hit 31 last year at age 35, and will probably end up pretty close to Jackson’s 563. In today’s age of inflated offense, Konerko’s eventual career statistics might be on the cusp of Hall-of-Fame-worthiness, but I like his chances. 

When do you use basic math in your job?

Oftentimes while I am writing a baseball story I will consult the www.baseballreference.com website to research statistical material. Sometimes I might have to tally up home-run and runs-batted-in totals and divide them by the number of years to decipher the average numbers per year.  I do a lot of multiplication and division to figure percentages. For example, a player’s batting average can be figured by dividing the number of hits by the number of at bats. Three hits out of 10 at-bats is 3 ÷ 10 or .300.

Earned run average (ERA) is a measure of a pitcher’s relative effectiveness and is often referenced when writing about pitchers. Earned run average is the number of earned runs scored against a pitcher, divided by the number of innings pitched multiplied by nine (the number of innings in a regulation game). Earned runs are scored without the assistance of a fielding errors. ERA is represented with a number followed by a decimal and two percentage points explaining how many runs a pitcher gives up in an average nine-inning game. Here’s an example: In 1985, Dwight Gooden of the New York Mets gave up 47 earned runs in 276 and 2/3 innings pitched for a National League leading ERA of 1.53, a number which has not been reached by any starting pitcher since Gooden accomplished the feat. Prior to Gooden’s stellar season, no pitcher had recorded an ERA as low as Gooden’s 1985 figure since Bob Gibson of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1968. (His ERA was 1.12.)

Do you use any technology (like calculators or computers) to help with this math?

I use the calculator on my computer, which I can move around on top of the statistical information, so that both are visible to me at the same time.

How do you think math helps you do your job better?

Math and baseball are inseparable. Mathematical measurements are employed to explain batters’ and pitchers’ relative success and failure. Individual and team statistics are used by writers to explain what has transpired during the course of a baseball game, a baseball season and a baseball career.

How comfortable with math do you feel?

I was not very proficient at math in high school or college. In fact I struggled with high school algebra which is as far as I have advanced in mathematical skills and could probably not solve an algebraic equation today. I would like to strengthen my math skills.

Did you have to learn new skills in order to do the math you use in your job?

Thankfully, I have been figuring batting averages and earned run averages since I first became a baseball fan. Fortunately I can still get by in my baseball writing with the rudimentary math skills that I have. However, statistical analysis in baseball has become much more complicated and there are certain statistical formulas that I do not understand.

Read a few of Charlie’s stories:

The Real Indians of Baseball

The Living Spirits of Sports Legends

The King and I: Remembering and Writing about Dave Kingman

Do you have questions for Charlie? Ask them in the comments section, and I’ll let him know they’re here. Do you remember learning math through baseball when you were a kid? Share your stories below.

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Math for Parents Math for Teachers Math for Writers Personal Finance

Getting an Education in Student Loans

How about these scary statistics:

1. In the U.S. student loan debt is huge. Last year alone, students took out $117 billion in federal student loans. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau estimates that the total U.S. debt has now exceeded $1 trillion. And this debit is not simply because new students are going to school. Nope, it’s also because folks with college degrees are behind in their loan payments, which increases the total interest costs. (The New York Federal Reserve estimates that 1 in 4 people with student loan debt is behind in their payments.)

2. The cost of a college education is rising fast. From the 1999 school year to the 2009 school year, tuition and room and board at public institutions rose 37% and at private insituations rose 25%(adjusting for inflation).

All of these statistics — and more — have some economists worrying that student loans are the new economic bubble. Like the tech and real estate bubbles, if this one bursts, the country could be in for another deep recession, this time with the federal government holding the bag.

So what the heck are colleges, parents and students doing to slow down this fast-moving train? Elgin Community College (ECC) in Elgin, IL is getting proactive, requiring financial aid counseling to students who are seeking federal student loans.

“The feedback has been positive,” says Amy Perrin, ECC’s director of financial aid and scholarships. “Students have expressed appreciation for educating them on the loan basics, budgeting, percentage interest rates and expected monthly payments.”

But student expectations are still a big issue. “We’ve had several students walk in with an inflated idea of what they ‘want’ to borrow — and walk out with a better understanding of what they ‘need’ to borrow,” Perrin says.

Student loans aren’t free money. And unlike other debts, these loans can follow a person forever, since they cannot be discharged in bankruptcy. It’s not just the math that trips students up.

“There seems to be a conflict between the Department of Education’s regulations and the student’s reality,” Perrin says. “The loan advising meeting covers many concepts, including creating a budget, interest rates, monthly payments, the student’s rights and responsibilities, and the consequences of default. After meeting with the staff, they should have a good understanding of the basic financial concepts of borrowing a student loan.”

So how can math help? A solid understanding of interest payments is critical here, and although there are online calculators that can help students estimate the total cost of these loans, students must have some basic math skills in order to use them. Perrin also suggests that parents and schools work harder at developing financial literacy skills.

“Parents can definitely play an important role in educating their children on basic financial concepts such as budgeting, how to open a checking account, why having a savings account is important and explaining ‘wants’ vs. ‘needs,’” she says. “Additionally, high schools should infuse financial literacy concepts into their classroom curriculum to further communicate the importance of wise financial decisions. High schools can partner with colleges to offer financial aid awareness events for parents and students.”

This student loan debt isn’t going anywhere any time soon. Unless we turn on our math brains and really deal with the numbers behind these scary statistics, our country could end up in another ugly economic place. Here’s hoping that other colleges require students to attend these programs–so that college degrees can actually mean something more than a monthly debt that must be paid off.

I’ll be the first to admit that my understanding of student loans is limited. So if you have questions, I completely understand! Post them here, and I’ll find the right expert to answer them. 

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Journey from Math Loser to Math User

Today, I’ve asked Siobhan Green to share her math story with everyone. As the CEO Sonjara, Inc., a woman-owned technology firm, she is a huge proponent of increasing women and men’s math skills worldwide. But she hasn’t always felt confident in her math skills.  As she told me, “I think my story is not that unusual in how many of us, especially girls, too easily believe that math is hard and only for super smart math geek types.” Amen!

I was considered a smart kid. I learned to read early, knew my numbers and letters before age 3, entered first grade early and did well in school. However, when I got to third grade, I and my teachers started noticing a discrepancy between my math scores and the rest of my school work. I would regularly get poor grades on timed math tests — two- and three-digit addition and subtraction problems —  which predominated our math education. I easily mastered the concepts presented, but when given a timed test, I would run out of time and/or make a lot of odd mistakes.

This pattern continued in elementary school. The result was that I was either yelled at by teachers for being lazy or intentionally not focusing on my math work, or the teachers just assumed I was “bad at math.” I vividly remember one teacher saying “Yeah, girls are better at verbal skills, boys at mathematical/spacial ones. Just stick to what you are good at.”

Things got better in seventh grade when we moved to pre-algebra. I was excellent at pre-algebra and routinely got As and Bs on tests. But I also managed to make the teacher mad when a group of students was interviewed by a local paper and I made a disparaging comment about him (I had no idea what I was doing). As a result, he recommended that I NOT move into Algebra as my grades would warrant but rather into pre-algebra/algebra, for kids who struggled. No one — not my guidance counselor, nor my parents, nor even me — remarked on this fact, as we all had agreed by that point that I was “bad at math.”

This decision had huge implications. Math is tracked; students take algebra, then geometry, then algebra II and then trig, and only then can you take calculus. By not allowing me to go into algebra in eighth grade, I would not take calculus in high school — something that excluded me for many science (especially computer science) learning opportunities.

The rest of my educational history with math was similar – I excelled in algebra (go figure), did fine in algebra II and trig and did surprisingly well in geometry, but my heart wasn’t in it. I also took some basic computer programing courses — BASIC and Pascal. I enjoyed these but never associated them with math, and the overwhelmingly geeky-boy atmosphere of the computer lab turned me off to more experimentation in these fields. By the time computer science camps started becoming popular in high school (in the mid/late 80s), many programs expected that students would be in advanced math classes.

My college degree was in international affairs, which required two years of economics. I was NOT good at economics, and because I didn’t know calculus, and my antipathy for anything involving numbers, was a big part of it. I excelled in the social sciences and went onto a career in international development.

However, over the years of my career, I noticed that I was good at technology — I was the person in the office who figured out the printers, who set up macros and templates in Word, and who taught herself basic HTML. I was also a whiz with developing databases and excel spreadsheets and was often the person who tracked expenses and invoices. I became more and more interested in using technology for international development; I did my masters’ dissertation on the Internet in Africa in 1997. Falling in love with a software developer didn’t hurt, either.

It was actually through my husband (the math/computer science major and total math geek) that I realized I am NOT bad at math. I am in fact pretty darn good at it, and a lot of the tasks I enjoyed “count” as math!

Andy recognized that I have a mild learning disability — dyscalculia. I transpose numbers, have a hard time retaining numbers in my head, don’t memorize numbers well (I still don’t know my 7 and 8 times tables by heart — and by now, I will never memorize them), and often misstate numbers when going from listening to writing. (Trying to capture a number left on a voicemail is torture for me.) And this is true after years of learning coping skills! He was the one who said “Your calculation mistakes are not normal. And they have NOTHING to do with your math abilities.”

See, remember those timed tests? Thinking back, I would think one number and write down another one. Now, I always take a second to double check, but in a timed situation at age 8, I would panic and just move on to the next one. Many of the mistakes I made in the early years were down to calculation errors. When the math was based in patterns (like algebra) or depended on calculators, I did much better. But by that time, my math ability had become a self-fulfilling prophecy. The research is clear about the impact of low expectations on ability; I never pushed myself and accepted lower scores as evidence of my innate lack of talent.

I didn’t realize that my strong abilities in building relational databases, especially to track quantitative data, counts as math! I absolutely love building databases, especially related to financial management. Those spreadsheets I use to track finances?  They speak to me and tell me a story in numbers. I had no idea that my ability to create and read those numerical pictures of my firm also counted as math.

Andy also taught me how to program, and while I will never be a full blown developer (mainly because I don’t have time to gain in-depth programming experience), he found that I grasped the key pattern processes quite easily. This skill has been invaluable in my role as business process analyst for web application development. It helps me translate between user needs and programming architecture, which helps with figuring out edge cases and pricing.

Today, my job as CEO of a web application company involves a lot of math. For example:

* Pricing work, especially figuring out hourly rates for specific roles/individuals based on salary, benefits, and overhead plus profit. It is very easy to “win” enough work for bankruptcy (win the work but price it so low you don’t cover your costs). We are always repeating the joke “yeah, we lose $1 per widget sold but we will make it up in volume.” (The explanation is at the bottom.)

* Overseeing projected and actual utilization of my staff. If our rates are based on this person being at 80% billable, and they are regularly at 75% billable, that 5% difference will eat into my profit.

* Understanding the difference between the profit and loss statement, the balance sheet, and a cashflow statement. This is omething that every business owner must understand in order to figure out how the business is doing. You can have huge paper profits but still be in serious trouble if you cannot make payroll, or you could be cash rich but slowly going under because your easy access to credit is masking the fact you are spending more than you are earning.

* Making decisions about how to spend money. What investment will make a bigger impact? For example, should I hire another person or pay down a loan? Should we purchase this new computer now on credit or wait until the next check comes in?

Oh, and here’s the explanation of the above joke:  “Yeah, we lose $1 per widget sold but we will make it up in volume.” Assuming that your costs do not scale (decrease per widget based on volume), if you sell 100 widgets, you have now lost $100. And if you sell 1,000,000 widgets, you have now lost $1,000,000. It is astonishing the number of business people I meet who do not get this concept. Usually, they are not in business for long.

Can you identify with Siobhan’s story? Share yours below. 

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The Math of Poetry (Yep, there’s a connection)

anyone lived in a pretty how town
(with up so floating many bells down)
spring summer autumn winter
he sang his didn't he danced his did

So goes my very favorite poem, written by e.e. cummings. In my senior year of high school, I wrote a term paper explicating the verse, and I fell in love. At the same time, I was taking two math classes, and somehow the process of solving a system of equations was similar to understanding cummings’ strange syntax and playful turns of traditional poetic forms.

April is not only Math Awareness Month but also National Poetry Month. In a facebook conversation with another writer, I found myself offering to show the connections between math and poetry — a task that is surprisingly simple but (if similar articles and blog posts are any indicators) could be very contentious. I like a challenge and a good intellectual fight, so here goes:

Symbols

I’ve long asserted here that mathematics is a language that describes the physical world. Without mathematics, we cannot describe physics. And mathematical models allow us to predict the future or see the invisible. Math also depends heavily on symbols — variables, Greek letters and characters that represent operations like addition and division.

Clearly, symbolism is the very basis of poetry. When Robert Frost writes, “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, / And sorry I could not travel both” he doesn’t mean that he is literally sorry that he cannot literally travel two literal roads. Nope. The yellow wood represents the later years of the poet’s life when he’s considering the choices (roads) he could have made (taken). (For sure, there are many versions of this interpretation.)

The same is true for the symbolism in math. When you graph a curve that represents the steady increase of your take-home pay over several years, the curve is a symbol of your financial (and perhaps professional) success. But you can interpret or apply the curve in a variety of different ways, and the curve doesn’t tell the entire story.

[laurabooks]

Patterns

You can’t deny the patterns found in mathematics. All you need to do is list multiplication facts for a certain number, and a structure will jump off the page or computer screen. (Eventually.) Then there are a variety of sequences and series, like Fibonacci’s Sequence (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, …) or a geometric series (like 1 + 2 + 4 + 8 + …).

The patterns in poetry are often found in meter and rhyming schemes. So the first line of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 73 is in iambic pentameter: “That time of year thou mayst in me behold.” We know this because it features five two-syllable feet that are expressed as non-stress, stress. (In other words: “That time of year thou mayst in me behold.”) Along with iambic, traditional poetry may follow trochaic, spondaic, anapestic or dactylic meters — but there are endless more styles. Cummings’ “anyone lived in a pretty how town” is generally considered to be a ballad, which, when you know the key that unlocks the poem’s meaning, makes perfect sense.

Symmetry

The idea that two halves are symmetric is not mandatory in mathematics or poetry, but oftentimes it takes center stage. In math, we have symmetric shapes, like circles or isosceles triangles. Symmetry is also critical in solving equations, as you must do the same thing to both sides of the equation.

And in poetry, symmetry is often found in the ways that verses and stanzas are structured. “The Road Not Taken” features four stanzas with five verses each.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Many mathematicians and poets have pointed out even more similarities (some that, in my opinion, suck the life and art out of both math and poetry), but these are some basic ideas. I’ll leave you with what Einstein said on the matter: “Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas.” To which I say: math and poetry are designed to give the illogical some kind of logical shape.

There are some really interesting everyday life math examples in my books. Visit this page and buy the book today!

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Math at Work Monday: Andrea the book editor

Another book editor? Well, there’s a lot that goes into this process — from figuring out layout to determining what which book will be profitable. 

Andrea Rotando has been a book editor for Barnes & Nobel and Sterling Publishing since 2001. She’s also an experienced travel writer and the editor of Luxury Cruise Bible. In our interview, she talks about calculating the profit/loss for a book — a reality check for any book author!

Can you explain what you do for a living? 

I always knew I wanted to be in a creative field, but I never guessed that I’d end up in book publishing. I moved to New York City in 1991 with a music degree under my belt. I worked at recording studios until I segued into the magazine business by way of Pro Sound News and Musician magazines. Those experiences jump-started by passion for publishing and in 2007 I segued from magazine publishing to book publishing.

I joined Barnes & Noble in 2007 as a senior editor. I acquire, develop, and shepherd the production of projects for the Sterling Innovation and Fall River Press imprints. Both of those Sterling Publishing imprints exist with the express mission of creating proprietary books and kits (book + components) for the value section of Barnes & Noble stores.

I look to acquire books that will appeal to a broad section of Barnes & Noble’s customers and I also license existing content to create new packages of old favorites from third-party vendors. I work on a wide variety of topics, from crafts to cookbooks to light reference to military history.

As a hands-on editor, I’m involved in every aspect of a book’s creation, from contract negotiation to manuscript development to supervising copy editors and proofreaders and being the liaison with the production, design, and sales teams. I also supervise and mentor junior editors on the team.

Andrea Rotondo

When do you use basic math in your job?  

Basic math comes to the rescue in so many ways in my job. One major way I use math is to devise and monitor project schedules. One of my responsibilities is to make sure books arrive at each Barnes & Noble store on time. This is incredibly important since promotional tables for our products are set up at the front of each store on a certain date each month and a new batch of books are displayed. If a book doesn’t hit that table on time, the company loses sales. Not only don’t we earn money for that book, we’ve undersold the capability of that table and that means our department will be under its revenue goals for the month.

I use math to calculate the length of time each part of the book creation process takes and I assign those tasks accordingly. When something goes wrong, I look at the timeline and see where it can be expanded or contracted.

Do you use any technology (like calculators or computers) to help with this math?  

Sterling Publishing uses a proprietary online profit and loss (p&l) system. This is where we can log on to create or update the p&l statement for each book. The p&l includes fields for costs such as the advance to the author and his or her royalty rate as well as hard costs like editing, design, printing, and freight. The system automatically calculates the margin of the product. If the project doesn’t hit a certain acceptable margin, we don’t move forward.

I have to admit though that I often whip up “back of napkin” p&ls before going to the official system. This helps me get a sense of where the product margin is and where I have to work to trim expenses before committing to official paperwork.

How do you think math helps you do your job better? 

Math is like insurance. As long as I have the raw data about a project (advance, royalty rate, number of first printing units, print costs, etc.), I can calculate if that project will be a financial success (i.e., “make its margin”). Without math, there would be a lot of guesswork as to which projects would earn out and which wouldn’t.

How comfortable with math do you feel?  Does this math feel different to you?  (In other words, is it easier to do this math at work or do you feel relatively comfortable with math all the time?) 

Math has never been one of my strong suits but I like numbers, especially as they relate to the economic health of a project. I love being able to look at a project’s data and see where the opportunities are for the author and company to make a buck.

What kind of math did you take in high school?  Did you like it/feel like you were good at it? 

I don’t feel that I received an adequate education in regards to math while in high school. The courses were very basic. In college, I struggled with calculus. I’ve definitely become more comfortable with math, but I wish I had a more solid foundation from which to build.

Did you have to learn new skills in order to do the math you use in your job? Or was it something that you could pick up using the skills you learned in school? 

A basic knowledge of addition/subtraction is really all any editor needs.

Any questions for Andrea? Ask in the comments section!

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Math for Grownups Math for Writers

Statistics in reporting: When trend stories fail

Photo courtesy of apdik

Ah, the trend story — we love them and we hate them. Presumably, they tell us what’s hot or not, but they also overgeneralize with very few sources. Ask a room full of writers about trend stories, and you’re likely to see a few eyerolls. Here are some examples:

“Man buns” are in

Male college students seek sugar daddies to pay tuition bills

Female college students seek sugar daddies to pay tuition bills

Rich kids are taking private jets to summer camp

It’s not that these stories are inherently bad. In fact, they’re fascinating. The problem with trend stories is that too many readers, viewers and listeners take them to the next, not-so-logical step. These stories don’t mean that all men wear buns or that even a majority of men in Brooklyn wear buns. What they actually mean is that the reporter discovered a certain number of men in Brooklyn — plus a Top Chef contestent — wearing “man buns.”

That’s because words like majority or most or average actually have mathematical meanings. What’s more, I believe we count on these words to have real meaning, rather than serving as euphemisms for something that the reporter or editor saw a few times. Even using words like many or some isn’t a great way around this. These words cloud issues, rather than elucidate them.

Let’s look at an example. For a few years, sociologists, city planners and reporters have been talking about “food deserts.” These are geographic areas where residents have very few good options for grocery shopping. Because these are poorer regions, people tend to get their food from convenience stores or fast food restaurants, because they can’t drive or take public transportation to shop for fresh fruits and vegetables.

Sounds awful doesn’t it? For a few months, I saw dozens of stories on this phenomenon. But are food deserts ubiquitous? Or were these reports based on a few examples? Thing is, we can actually find out. (Check out the link to see for sure.)

That’s where statistics come in. And reporters don’t necessarily have to do the hard work of crunching these numbers. What is really important is the ability to interpret the data. And it’s critical to know about something called the Law of Large Numbers. [pullquote]The Law of Large Numbers says that the average of the results obtained from a large number of trials should be close to the expected value.[/pullquote]

In probability, performing the same experiment over and over again (and recording the results) is paramount. Otherwise, the data and conclusions just won’t mean much. The Law of Large Numbers says that the average of the results obtained from a large number of trials should be close to the expected value.

Without going into the nitty-gritty of the math, we can use the gist of the Law of Large Numbers to apply to trend stories. If you want to know whether food deserts are a real trend, you’d better locate more than three of them. If you want to say that they’re located in urban areas, you should check rural areas too. Because if your conclusion is based on only a handful of data, it’s not worth much.

And that’s not all. If you only look at data from a set with only certain characteristics, you can’t generalize your conclusion. It might be easy for those of us who live in cities to assume that food deserts are only in urban areas, right? Perhaps this is where trend stories are most likely to fail–when the writer or editor doesn’t consider life outside his personal bubble.

In other words, if you know three female college students who are financing their tuition with the help of “sugar daddies,” that doesn’t mean this is happening all over the U.S. You’d better get some more solid data than that, or you’re not being a responsible journalist.

And for all of you readers out there, look for these signs of a trend story gone awry: most, many, some say, could be, etc. Enjoy the story, if you are so inclined, but don’t make the mistake of generalizing the anecdotes past exactly what has been reported.

In other words, a couple of guys in Brooklyn may be wearing man buns, but that doesn’t mean you (or a guy you know) won’t look out of place in your neck of the woods.

What are your favorite trend stories? Have you ever written a trend story that succeeded? If you’re a writer, what advice do you have for other writers for avoiding the trend-story trap?

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Political Reporting: The “math” of delegate votes

Photo courtesy of paulinaclemente

It’s been a weird primary season. Like an exciting Preakness race, the remaining Republican candidates are still going strong, and in some ways, the candidacy is way, way up in the air. Unlike previous primaries, we’re no closer to a Republican candidate than when we started this whole thing.

And now the political pundits and reporters are touting “delegate math,” with headlines like “It’s math vs. momentum as Romney, Santorum fight on” (Baltimore Sun) and “Romney’s Delegate Math Still Adds Up” (Wall Street Journal). See, when an election gets or stays tight, estimations won’t work any longer — especially as folks wonder when one of the candidates is going to drop out. It’s important to pull out the calculators or actually look up how many Republican delegates are in play in Illinois (69, if you’re actually curious).

But in all of my reading and listening, I haven’t gotten a good break-down of the delegate math that people keep talking about. I want to know which states Romney has to win in order to clinch the nomination. I want to know which states Santorum has to win to present a credible threat. In other words, how hard would it be for Santorum to pull out a win? What about Gingrich or Paul?

Fact is, math can help clarify these complex ideas — or not.

DISCLAIMER 1: This is as good a point as any to tell you that this is not a political blog. In my rough analysis, which will not be precise, I am not making any statements about whom I want to win the primary. I am not registered with either party, and my political beliefs (which I’ll keep to myself here) don’t play into this post. Of course, those who disagree with my numbers will probably think otherwise, as they are free to do.

DISCLAIMER 2: This post was written on Tuesday, March 20, before the Illinois primary, so those results are not included here — nor, for that matter, are any results in subsequent primaries.

DISCLAIMER 3: I am not a seasoned political journalist, and I’ve done the best I can with a mini crash course on Republican delegates. I’ve fact checked myself as best I can, but to be sure, these counts vary from source to source. If you think you have better numbers, by all means let me know in the comments section. (Just remember rule No. 1: be nice.)

Anywho…

I’ve done some research on this in the hopes I could break this code and give to you straight — while demonstrating that math is indeed useful in reporting, despite the countless journalism majors who have difficulty with liberal arts math. (That’s a joke, ya’ll. Don’t get mad.)

In the process, I discovered the reasons that these projections are impossible: 1) not all delegates have to vote the way their primaries go, 2) some states have winner-takes-all primaries, where the winner of the primary gets all of the delegates, but 3) other states have proportional primaries, where each candidate gets a proportion of the delegates based on the vote.

But there still must be a way for math to help me (and others) understand where we’re headed — even if it’s just a rough sketch — right? Let’s take a look.

There are 2,286 Republican delegates, and in order to win the nomination, a candidate must earn 1,144 delegate votes.  Here’s what the candidates have right now (according to The Green Papers, a website that makes it its business to track these delegate counts):

Romney: 407 (soft*) + 515 (hard*) = 922

Santorum: 170 (soft*) + 239 (hard*) = 409

Gingrich: 133 (soft*) + 157 (hard*) = 290

Paul: 26 (soft*) + 78 (hard*) = 104

*hard delegates are allocated votes and come super-delegate votes, while the soft delegates represent proportional votes, where the primary has been held and the proportional votes are estimated but not confirmed, or are uncertain super-delegate votes

So how many more delegates must each candidate earn before they can clinch the nomination (assuming that all of the soft delegate counts will become hard delegate counts)?

Romney: 1,144 – 922 = 222 delegates

Santorum: 1,144 – 409 = 735 delegates

Gingrich: 1,144 – 290 = 834 delegates

Paul: 1,144 – 104 = 1,040 delegates

See, to me these numbers tell a much clearer picture, but some additional comparisons would help. For example, what percent of the winning delegates does each candidate have, according to these numbers?

Romney: 922 ÷ 1,144 = 81%

Santorum: 409 ÷ 1,144 = 36%

Gingrich: 290 ÷ 1,144 = 25%

Paul: 104 ÷ 1,144 = 9%

(Notice, this doesn’t mean that Romney has earned 81% of the delegate votes. It means he’s earned 81% of the delegate votes he needs to come on top at the convention. And of course by earned, I mean these delegates have been identified as likely (or definitely, depending on the state) voting for Romney at the convention.)

For weeks, we’ve heard that Romney and Santorum are running neck-in-neck. But when you look at those percentages, well, they paint a different picture. Still there’s another number that I think would really help: the percentage of remaining delegates that each candidate must win.

Let’s assume (and this is a big assumption) that there are 1,725 delegates still up for grabs and (another big assumption) that all of the soft delegate counts will become hard delegate counts, just as they are noted here.  Then the candidates would need to win these percentages of the remaining votes in order to secure the nomination.

Romney: 222 ÷ 1,725 = 13%

Santorum: 735 ÷ 1,725 = 43%

Gingrich: 834 ÷ 1,725 = 48%

Paul: 1,040 ÷ 1,725 = 60%

There’s a huge difference between 13% and 43%. I’m not saying that it can’t be done. But with these numbers, this doesn’t look like a close race any longer.

I’m not saying that these are the be-all, end-all numbers that should be used to describe the Republican primary. But I am saying that math can help us understand where the candidates stand. And we absolutely should not depend on the candidates themselves to give us this analysis. Instead, journalists should be spending time with a pencil, paper and calculator (or a spreadsheet) — and some reliable sources — to figure these things out for their readers.

Any thoughts on how the math has been used in reporting this political race? Share them in the comments section.

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Math at Work Monday Math for Writers

Math at Work Monday: Craig the writer

Welcome week three of our month devoted to publishing and media. If you haven’t previous posts, what’s stopping you? So far, we’ve looked at book publishing and on-air meteorology (television weatherpersons). This week, it’s time to look at writing. Today you’ll meet Craig Guillot, a freelance writer in New Orleans, who specializes in finance writing, among other things. Craig is the author of Stuff About Money: No BS Financial Advice for Regular People, an ebook, which he says will be available in April. (I’m a source for one section!)

Bottom line? Math helps keep Craig profitable. So if you’re a budding freelance writer–or looking for ways to leave more on your bottom line–listen up.

Can you explain what you do for a living?

I’m a non-fiction freelance writer. My specialties include business, personal finance, retail, real estate, travel and entertainment. I’ve written for publications and web sites, such as Entrepreneur, CNNMoney.com, Washington Post, Nationalgeographic.com and dozens of trade publications. I also have a personal finance book Stuff About Money: No BS Financial Advice for Regular People.

When do you use basic math in your job?

In the actual writing, not much. Just like any other writer or journalist, I interview sources, research, take trips out in the field, gather information and write. I occasionally do a little photography and video too. I do use math on occasion in some of my personal finance work to demonstrate and calculate different things related to retirement and investing.

But I use math a lot in the background. Writing just happens to be my trade. Like any other self-employed person, I am ultimately running a business. As a freelancer I sell my services to editors and corporate clients. I have a lot of regular clients, but I’m constantly taking on new projects and new deals. I need to be able to carefully estimate my time and expenses to give a client an accurate quote.

To me, everything is about the hourly rate. I need to use this as a basis for building my income. And while my overhead isn’t much, I do have to know what’s going out to pay taxes, what’s going into savings, retirement and everything else. It may seem like part of my personal life but I consider it all part of my job. When you’re self employed, you have to constantly think about all of these things.

Do you use any technology (like calculators or computers) to help with this math?

I’m not sure I even have a calculator in my office anymore, but my main tool is Excel. I use it for everything, and I mean everything. It’s a calculator but so much more. There is no problem that can’t be solved, no analysis that can’t be made, in Excel. When you learn how to use it and how to write the formulas you need, you can do anything with it. I use it to analyze my revenues, analyze the profitability of certain assignments. Like everyone else, I use Quickbooks, but I also use Excel for background stuff.

I break everything down to a formula or percentage. This includes my monthly income goals. It doesn’t have to be that way. I don’t imagine it’s that way for many other writers but it works for me and helps me make the optimal decisions. I’ve used Excel to track, analyze and compute things in my regular life as well. I used it in the remodeling of our house, in tracking my net worth, in monitoring my investments, planning retirement, planning trips. I sit down, make up a spreadsheet, build some formulas, input the data and then use it to help make decisions. I run marathons and even use it to track my training runs and races. The more you learn how to use Excel and write formulas, the more uses you find for it.

How do you think math helps you do your job better?

One way it helps me is with analyzing my hourly rate and profitability. Whenever I take on special projects for a corporate client or a custom publisher, I use it to give a quote. I prefer to work on a project rate. I give them a single number but behind that is a lot of math that I have used to arrive at that number. They don’t need to know any of that.

I may also build in a variance. It will let me know if I might be able to live with a cut in that number. So if they want to try to negotiate that down a bit, I know that I can drop by 5%, 7%, 10% or whatever it might be for me to still make what I need to make.

I also need to factor in opportunity cost. That is what else I could be doing with my time. Do I take this project which will tie me up for three weeks or do I decline it and go after smaller but potentially more lucrative projects that will make my time more flexible? I use math to figure all this out.

How comfortable with math do you feel?

In relation to personal finance and business math, I feel very comfortable with it because I use it so much and see the value in it. But all the standard stuff you learn in school? I really don’t remember any of that. I’d have to pull out a book and look up some formulas if you wanted me to calculate cubic volume or something like that.

What kind of math did you take in high school?  Did you like it/feel like you were good at it?

Just the basics. Algebra, geometry, standard high school stuff. I wasn’t particularly good at it, I was just average. But I majored in business in college and took a lot of accounting, finance and business math classes. I always excelled at those and had a stronger interest in them. Math dealing with money just felt real to me. There was an instant connection of “Oh, I could actually use this someday.”

Did you have to learn new skills in order to do the math you use in your job? Or was it something that you could pick up using the skills you learned in school?

I did pick up some new skills, but a lot of the business and personal finance math I used today can be traced right back to college. The fact that I actually enjoy this kind of math really helps.

Anything else you want to mention?

Yes. I believe that many of our growing financial problems in this country—like people getting into mortgages they couldn’t afford, our lack of savings, our failure to put enough money away for retirement, our problems with credit card debt—can be traced partly to our failure to use math in our financial lives. People buy homes and cars on emotion but rarely run the numbers. They wouldn’t use debt to overspend if they really knew the long-term consequences. There is a numerical answer for everything in your finances. You have to know why that number is important, how to calculate it and how to use it.

Any questions for Craig? I’m sure he’d be happy to answer them!