The Problem With Math Problems
Someone suggested I switch to a math major today. I shuddered with disgust. I'm pretty competent at math. I mean, I never failed at it or anything in school. But math word problems always irritated me. ALWAYS.
First of all, my teachers called them "Word problems". And I'm all like, "Lady do you SEE the problem here? We are in MATH class." I still stand by my nine-year old beliefs. Words belong in English. Numbers belong in math. (Don't even get me started on when they started adding letters into equations..) Later I'd be sitting at the kitchen table doing homework and I'd read "Estevez wants to go to buy each of his friends...." Whoa, whoa, whoa. Estevez? Half the kids in my grade couldn't even read English, let alone Spanish names... Then I'd flip to the next page and read, "Ramesh is going to a concert on Friday night. One ticket costs...."
*face palm*
Seriously, I don't think they write very many math problems about white kids. Unless you know a white kid named Ming, in which case I take it back. Also, what is Ramesh doing at a concert? Is he not also a child?
Let's now examine the stupidity of math problems using some real examples that I found on the internet.
"Susan had 10 chocolate bars, but ate 9 of them. What is she left with?"
(Probably diabetes... But that's just a guess.)
"Jack, John, and Judy decide to split the fare to fly to Africa for the day..."
I like to blame problems like these for my difficulties with accepting reality.
"Xavier wants to buy 40 pounds of candy..."
I don't even know why people question the roots of the obesity dilemma. It's obviously in the elementary education system...
"Chauncy has 71 cents in his pocket. He wants to buy 2 super balls at the toy store. Each super ball costs 8 cents. How much money will he have left?"
Okay, I admit, this isn't even that bad of a word problem, but I really would like to know where in the world there is a toy store that sells 8-cent bouncy balls...
Gah. Math...
And thus, I became an English major.
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