Dedicated to all of the persistent Mathematics teachers of my past – and those incredible colleagues who just keep on trying…
Intro: The semester changed, and I recently found myself switching places from Grade 3 Art to Grade 9 Math. They were mid-unit in Algebra, and I had a lot of reviewing to do. Oddly enough… I learned a few more things this time around.
Enter, the word problem:
A group of men and women are placed in a world. Sometimes, things are easy, and the road is wide and straight. Other times, things are hard, and the path disappears over the bumps. Nothing is certain, nothing is known, and nobody knows where to go or what to do. Use polynomials to illustrate the dimensions and success of their continuous endeavours to determine their roles in life. Then, solve for X.
Let X represent Why:
4x people + 2 roads = 7(24x hours a day to mull it over – 365 days to repeat)
First Attempt: Panic. Staring into space. Give up. The question is unsolvable. A Hoax. There is no Why. Or Y. Or X for that matter. There is, in short, no point to this problem. If given the choice, eradication is the answer.
Second Attempt: Slowly but surely, bits and pieces of 12 years of repressed mathematical memory come into play…
- Simplify: Sometimes, Problems are Big. Too Big. So we eat the elephant one bite at a time: Tackle the room, not the house. Get rid of the distractions, take out the unecessaries, and translate all the Big Things into small, manageable Little Things.
- Gather Like Terms: Everything may now be smaller, but now Everything is Everywhere. Gather the items, match the socks, and see what we’re working with. It may turn out this issue is connected to that one, and that stressful situation stems from this one.
- Isolate the X: It all comes down to the root of the problem – find it, and separate it. It’s not about not having enough money, enough time, or enough attention. It’s about fear. It’s about the unknown. It’s about not having all the pieces you think you need to have, to solve your problems, and move on.
- Verification: Check and Double check –with friends, family, and God. Verifying reveals the Truth, and sometimes, the Truth is that we aren’t doing things correctly (and that can be hard to realize). But even if that’s true… even if the paper is covered in eraser smudges and tears –
We take out a new piece of paper…
And start again.
Life may not come with an easy-button calculator, but it does have the Greatest Teacher.
And who knows? We might find out, 12 years later, that we’ve learned a valuable life lesson.
… And that X (after all) equals Why.
“I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.” – Philippians 4:13
