I was looking at the cover of Elayn Martin-Gay’s Intermediate Algebra (Fifth Edition) and thought, if a person didn’t understand English, the conclusion might be drawn that this was a book on art history. It looks so innocuous. One would never guess that pages of formulas waited within the hardcover with indifferent patience.
But, I am beginning to appreciate some concepts. I found synthetic division the other night. I’ll go so far as to even say it’s cute. It basically involved division without variables (that you can add back later) and it was such a clean way to come to the final answer. I loved it. Plus, calling it “cute” kind of almost makes it seem like something I’d enjoy doing…and not at all intimidating. This is good, because my first exam is tonight.
Wish me luck!
By the way, I took the above photo on my camera phone on my lunch break when I was supposed to be studying. Yes…I may need more than luck tonight. Ha!
Jolene's Life in Focus 
Hope the exam went well and..cute? Ha, you crack me up!
The exam did go well, although I’ll have to wait until Monday for the results. I didn’t leave with a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, so that’s a good sign…I’m too old for all of this!
Algebra is cute? Oh oh… Jolene. Looks like you are becoming a math geek. 😉 Seriously though, glad you are finding some sense with math. Good luck on your exam.
Math geek? Shiver. I’m looking forward to moving on to abnormal psych and other more interesting classes instead!
I prefer organic division. Better for you.
Lol, Mike. I love it!
Ha–this made me smile. Cute and algebra, together in the same sentence, is somewhat of an absurdity to me! But even more intriguing is ‘synthetic’ division. Almost seems contrived… Just glad it’s you and not me. 🙂
Yes, a huge oxymoron for sure! Changing my perspective seemed to work though! I was done with the exam in only 15 minutes….don’t know how I did yet, but I actually feel good about it.