Yes, I’m a nerd.
A Short Essay on Math in My Life. . .
The measuring cups all stacked together so nicely inside the drawer. The quarter cup tucked into the third cup, which rested in the half and full cup. I grabbed them along with the set of nested teaspoons and headed to the counter. Baking time! Baking with my mom was one of my favorite childhood activities.
My mom taught me fractions before I learned them in school in a way that was understandable, practical, and tangible. Together we would read recipes, noting and measuring the amounts of various ingredients with physical demonstrations. We discussed the ratios of ingredients, flour to fat to sugar, which unfortunately explained why we couldn’t add ALL the chocolate chips. By “doubling” recipes, I learned about the manipulation and maintenance of ratios. The kinesthetic aspect of measuring ingredients complimented the reading of numerical amounts in the recipe and solidified my understanding of basic ratios and fractions.
Through our baking adventures, I learned three things about math: it is exact, it is creative, and it is fun. My mom taught me to level off the measuring cups, making sure that one cup of flour was as close to one cup as it could be. This requires a high level of attention, detail, and precision that is a hallmark of mathematics. Despite the acuteness of measurements and relative objectivity of numbers themselves, mathematics is extremely creative. I saw this firsthand when my mom showed me how I could use the ¼ measuring cup twice to measure ½ cup of sugar if the ½ measuring cup had been used. While there may be one answer, there are multiple approaches to get there, making math a challenging, yet rewarding opportunity for both individual discovery and collaboration. Whoever says math is not fun might not have ever baked chocolate chip cookies. Beyond the kitchen, I’d argue that math is relevant in every activity and industry. For example, sports stats, patterns in nature, and rhythm in music are inherently mathematical. Mathematics demands creative problem solving. It is a challenging science, and a more beautiful art.
Math has always been my favorite subject in school. It is both objective and subjectively artistic. It is not fazed by physical or language barriers among peoples. Rather, it seeks to reveal the truths of the world around us. As a young student, competitive by nature, I appreciated the reliability and clarity that math provided. In class there was a right answer, and most likely an infinite number of wrong answers. As I grew older, and matured alongside the math I engaged with, I grew to appreciate the artistry of mathematics. Studying mathematics in college allows me to wrestle with theoretical and upper-level math concepts. I am learning from those before me and challenging myself to make my findings relevant today. And I’ve definitely learned the times tables by now.
I cannot think of a time that math was not an important part of my life, nor can I imagine a time where it will not be.
That’s all for today. Thank you for reading, happy weekend 🙂
~Katherine
Mathematics demands creative problem solving. It is a challenging science, and a more beautiful art.
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