Mathematics is like LOVE !

Math is like LOVE. You know why. It is also a simple idea but it can get complicated.

Being good with numbers is nothing to do with being a good Mathematician. You are supposed to have a 'logical' mind. Mathematicians think totally differently from all of us normal mortals.

When 3 people are supposed to be in a room, but actually 5 came out of the room, what will you (or me for that matter) say ? We may say, "oh ! something wrong with my calculation.." or " how come ?" or at least "it is strange".


But, you know, what a mathematician will say ? "Now 2 more people have to go inside to make the room empty !" See, that is what I meant by a logical mind. Sometimes, they are too brilliant. They discover something, but don't know, what for. You may come across a news item, something line the one below. Don't bother, it is just some mathematician at work, that is all.

Mathematicians have announced the existence of a new whole number which lies between 27 and 28. "We don't know why it's there or what it does," says Cambridge mathematician, Dr. Hilliard Haliard, "we only know that it doesn't behave properly when put into equations, and that it is divisible by six, though only once."

While trying to understand the Prime Numbers, read some nice stuff about them. Here are a few :

• You know what seems odd to me? Numbers that aren't divisible by two.
  

• 2 is the only even number that is prime. It is odd, isn't it ?

• In Alaska, where it gets very cold, pi is only 3.00, instead of the normal 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510. As you know, everything shrinks in the cold. They call it Eskimo Pi.
  

Prime Time

The math faculty decided they got to woo few first year students. So, they they made a television commercial to show how exciting mathematics can be. To get the biggest audience, it was scheduled at prime time:

2 o'clock, 3 o'clock, 5 o'clock, 7 o'clock and 11 o'clock.

• The Romans didn't find algebra very challenging, because X was always 10.
  

Now, here is a tip on how to make your offspring good in Maths.

A ten year old boy was failing math. His parents tried everything from tutors to hypnosis, but to no avail. Finally, at the insistence of a family friend, they decided to enroll their son in a private Catholic school.


After the first day, the boy's parents were surprised when he walked in after school with a stern, focused and very determined expression on his face, and went right past them straight to his room, where he quietly closed the door.

For nearly two hours he toiled away in his room - with math books strewn about his desk and the surrounding floor. He emerged long enough to eat, and after quickly cleaning his plate, went straight back to his room, closed the door, and worked feverishly at his studies until bedtime.

This pattern continued ceaselessly until it was time for the first quarter report card.

The boy walked in with his report card -- unopened -- laid it on the dinner table and went straight to his room. Cautiously, his mother opened it, and to her amazement, she saw a bright red "A" under the subject of MATH. Overjoyed, she and her husband rushed into their son's room, thrilled at his remarkable progress.

"Was it the nuns that did it?", the father asked. The boy only shook his head and said, "No."

"Was it the one-on-one tutoring? The peer-mentoring?"

"No."

"The textbooks? The teachers? The curriculum?"

"Nope," said the son. "On that first day, when I walked in the front door and saw that guy they nailed to the 'plus sign,' I just knew they meant business!"

And, finally, here is what Mathematicians have to say about Mathematics !

If any of you meet this Oswald Veblen of 1924, you can tell him from my side that he is an ass.

See you later. In the meantime, be a good mathematician.