yep…I recently threw out most of a bottle of vermouth because I just wasn’t making martinis anymore. I didn’t know what else I could do with a bottle of vermouth.
Still like Bombay and tonic, though.
“The only man who is really free is the one who can turn down an invitation to dinner without giving an excuse.” – Jules Renard
I was once helping a friend with some very basic math. In school I had been no whiz at math myself, but due to years of working as a programmer, which may have actually changed my brain, I had become significantly better at it.
So, I was trying to help this friend with simple percentage problems, and it was pretty obvious that his teacher was simply getting the students to memorize formulas. For me, percentage is so intuitive that I have a hard time using a formula to calculate it. I may end up writing down the same formula, or a similar one, in the end, but I do it because, presumably like most people, I understand the theory. Anyway, I couldn’t get him to understand it, which probably says more about my skill at teaching than it does about his intelligence.
But that is exactly my point. I understand there is value in learning calc–but there is no inherent value for me in doing so. I’m not knocking people who enjoy math or want to learn it. But at 46, I’ve earned the right to decide how and where I expend my brain power. Solving word problems is not it. In fact, as an adult, I am thrilled that I will never again have to care where the Smith family are going and how best to plan their trip–including packing their luggage (geometry), gas mileage and length of trip (algebra), and if they decided to catapult there instead of drive (trig for all I know). It’s a wonderful sweet feeling to know that one does not have to face that which drove one to tears of frustration for years.
Believe me, I envy other’s ease in math. I am just now, in my 40s, comfortable with regrouping and seeing patterns that most saw in upper elementary. Sad, but true. I’m not proud of it, but I also refuse to apologize anymore for it. I don’t like math, period. I never will. I do what math I must do, but I do not enjoy it–why would I? I don’t enjoy flossing my teeth, either, but I do it-- that seems a more neutral subject than math (at least here).
This is exactly how I feel about it. I get that it’s important and wish my mind worked that way. It never came easily to me but I am not crippled for my lack of understanding of most math disciplines. I don’t need to know how to calculate compound interest on my mortgage (and I don’t even need to fully understand what that means!). It doesn’t take advanced math skills to pick the lowest fixed rate available. I can balance my checkbook and read a measuring cup and figure out what time-and-a-half on my paycheck is supposed to be. Trig and calc figure prominently in some people’s lives, but so far, I’ve made it through 52 years without ever having to understand them. I’ve got a bunch of cousins who are MIT math geniuses and that is truly marvelous for them. But I cannot wrap my brain around it. And I’m ok with that.
As a math-phobic, I’m going to partially agree with this one. I don’t agree that you don’t have to understand any HS math. ALL professions use math, even if you’re “just” a waitress. Even if you were on welfare and didn’t work at all you’d have to understand some HS math to assist with your finances. As it is, if you’re out IRL, you’re definitely going to need more than basic math due to needing it for your own best interests. Two words “Amortization table”. TRUST me, you’re gonna wanna know fractions, percentages, some basic algebra to make sure you don’t get screwed when buying houses and other big ticket items.
Now, for the agreement part.
I get ANNOYED as HELL at those math PSAs. According to those irritating ads, if you aren’t an engineer, you’re going to be living in a van by the river subsisting on government cheese (yes, yes, I mangled it, too lazy to look up the correctly worded quote! :D).
I do understand some basic HS math, and can even hold my own fairly well in “plug n play” algebraic equations. But don’t act as if people can’t be successful and still make a really good living if they’re not math prodigies of some sort.
Obviously math skills aren’t required for money making success.
Paris Hilton. Mary Kate and Ashley. Jessica Simpson…
and so on. 
Good point. And after reading more of the thread I realized that the OP stated later on that she did understand math and was good at some of the HS math. However, I don’t think I’m alone in misunderstanding her OP to mean not “I don’t have to do HS math,” but HS math is not useful.
Still the inverse, as preached ad nauseam by the various math PSAs, of no one possibly being (as counted acceptable by society’s standards) successful unless they have engineer level math skills, is VERY annoying and incorrect (there are scores of professions that don’t require math and that are monetarily and personally fulfilling).
So I don’t blame the OP at all for her opinion.
no i dont have to use a condom while with a prostitute in Haiti.
But you probably should.
Speaking as someone who lived there in the 1980’s, I hope this is meant to be snide sarcasm.
Write in cursive. Now THAT was a true waste of who knows how many hours. Always with the whining “Next year, when you’re in X* grade, you’ll have to write everything in cursive…” Well, I’m probably in freakin’ 21st grade by now, and there is no need to write in cursive!
- Look, more algebra!
I see that you are, indeed, refraining from writing in cursive.
C’mon people, we all know that most people don’t need math, except for percentages, basic stats, and a willingness to not be scared of (or entranced by) numbers.
Yes, some of us use it everyday, but most people don’t, really. Especially trigonometry.
-JaJ, mathematician.
You don’t have say “Peace out!” That’s just me but I’m an old fart.
No, I don’t have to wear my hair like everybody else (it’s quite long).
I hate for this thread to be a continuing referendum on the utility of math, but I agree with the mathematician. However, I think I’d phrase it this way:
Very few people need to learn and memorize the formulas presented in high school math: that is, memorize the quadratic equation and the means to solve it, binomial theorems, x² + x + y, blah blah. You needn’t memorize the formula for finding the volume of a cone, or solving for the hypotenuse of a right triangle, or calculating the area of a trapezoid. You don’t need to know what a trapezoid is.
What’s important, even if you deliberately cleanse your mind of all those formulas, is that mathematics teaches you to think in logical terms. It teaches you that numbers can be manipulated, that formulas can be applied, that steps can be taken in a precise order and manner to arrive at a conclusion.
That in itself is a very important thing. In what other class does one learn that?
wow…i thought my tone was obvious. anyone remember the snl commercial i stole this from?
i was going to use a condom, but then i figured when would i ever be back to Haiti…dockers relaxed fit…
Next year, wouldn’t you be in grade X+1 ? 
Band.
Sadly some of us grew up when only girls were taught how to typo. Hence all my typos. 
I do not HAVE to reproduce. Nor do I have to explain why I haven’t/won’t to anyone/everyone who asks.
I just turned 30 and the general consensus is that I HAVE to have a kid. Because I’d be “such a great mom” and “I’m smart and attractive and would have awesome kids” and “if I don’t have them I’ll regret it later!!”
This is not like a layaway plan, people. You can’t “halfway” have them. You don’t get to take them back if you decide it was a poor idea. “No thanks, after all!”
Well-meaning friends tell me I “HAVE TO HAVE A KID” to the point that I want to slap them. And don’t even get me started on my mother, who wants a grandchild so badly she’s practically quivering. If I have to hear one more person tell me how “I felt the way you do but once I had little Monster…” “I didn’t want a kid either but once I found out I was pregnant with Satan Spawn…” “I didn’t want any Slobberfests either til I was almost forty and now I wish I had five more!! You’ll change your mind sweetie!!!”
It makes me want to throw my uterus at them.
I DO NOT OWE THE UNIVERSE OR MY MOTHER A FREAKIN’ CHILD!
There. I said it.
Geez. I feel better now.