my_bassackwards_mathematical_thinking stork daddy So I had to find out how much per acre 8000$ at 5 acres would amount to. And instead of just realizing that it'd be 1600 an acre like most people would (by just adding 3000 to 5000), I said to myself...well i know 4000 times 2 equals 8000. But 2 isn't half of five so I couldn't just halve that number. Instead I realized that 2 is 4/5 of 2.5 and so if I wanted to multiply something by 2.5 and have it equal 8000 as well, I'd have to reduce the number used when multiplying it by 2 by a fifth. To add a fifth to one factor I had to remove a fifth to the other. I don't know if all of this is correct or not, but I certainly got the right number, since 4000 divided by 5 gave me 800. 800 times 4 gave me 3200 hundred and so now that I knew what times 2.5 would give me 8000 all I had to do was divide that into 2 and come up with 1600. can you believe I took calculus in high school? 040901 ... TK Yes, I can. I always tend to go about math the hard way as well, I've always found math to be extremely difficult, and thus even if it’s a simple problem (0x1=?) I often find myself coming up w/ some deranged way of making it difficult to fig out, the fact that math could ever be simple or easy is just beyond me. I really dislike numbers and anything having to do w/ them they always have to be so precise theirs always so many ways to be wrong when theirs only one right answer 040901 ... always Repetitive much? 040901 ... kx21 A Twist_and_Turn:- Let 0 = Zero 1 = Infinity 0x1=? 040901 ... suicidalchinadoll its this kind of thinking that caused me to make the transition from advanced mathamatics courses..to none at all... 040901 ... TK Anything times 0 is 0 And anything times 1 remains the same Why not make 0 = Infinity Seeing as how it is continues/unending? 0 = scissors 1= paper (rock, paper scissors) What may be quite simplistic for some can inturn become quite complex under certain circumstances. Thank you for making me not feel so mathematically deficient KX ^.^ -- suicidalchinadoll, Did you take those sort of corces bc you enjoyed them or just for credit? I mean like when you first started learning multiplication and division did you enjoy doing it and thus continues to expand upon your knowledge of it bc you wanted to or was it bc you felt you had to? You don’t really have to answer I was just curious. 040901 ... kx21 OOps... M_Hint: The_Duality - 0 & 1 040901 ... TK goofing off 0 = infinity 1 = 1 0x1= infinity ~ 0= scissors 1=paper 0x1= 2 (pieces of paper) ~ 0=0 1=infinity 0x1=0 040902 ... suicidalchinadoll in the very beginning, and a few times (enough throughout the process) I felt a continuity in the concept of math.. a flow that I've only ever sensed in a few other places. It was that feeling that kept me coming back... until my own methods defeated me 040902 ... kx21 *** * M_theories: 0 & 1 *** Logically, physically, scientifically, spiritually and "Mathematically":- 0 * 1 = "?" if 0 = Zero ("Nothing") and 1 = Infinity ("Everything") Copyrighy 2004 (M_theories: 0 & 1) kx21.com 040902 ... TK 0 always cancels out 1 when it comes to multiplication; heck 0 cancels out any # in multiplication (yeay for the black hole that is 0!) buuuut if you add 1+0 then the 1 wins out bc then the 0 truly is nothing, it's meaningless and only is their to take up unnecessary space and so in that case you end up w/ 1 soooo if you multiply Nothing(0) by Everything(1) given basic rules then Nothing(0) wins, although if you add Nothing(0) to Everything(1) then Everything(1) wins and m_theories is really bloody long to read in just one setting, I got as far as “what if god is lazy” and didn’t really find to much relevance w/ the above *shrugz* ~~~! suicidalchinadoll, “until my own methods defeated me” Are you sure that it was you that was the problem and not the method in witch it was being taught to you? I rember math always being an uphill struggle for me that usually left me crying in frustration and feeling utterly stupid, it wasn’t until 10th grade though that I realized it wasn’t completely my fault, one day we had a substitute and he handed out worksheets for all of us to do on our own, every one else in the class seemed to just be breezing through it but it all looked like Latin to me! any way I guess he saw that I was really struggling and came over to help, but he un like every one else who had previously tried to help didn’t talk in # he drew pictures and when possible explained using animals (something that was solid and definable unlike #s) and it was like magic! I actually understood! So in fact it wasn’t that I was stupid, it was that the teacher wasn’t teaching in a way that I was able to comprehend! Any way all of that to say maybe it wasn’t you that got in your way, maybe it was just the method in witch you were being taught. Also just bc your not in class doesn’t mean you cant still peruse the subject, theirs a lot of books out their all you have to do is find one that explains things to you in a way that you understand, don’t let the fact that you don’t have a teacher hinder you from something you enjoy, you can feel that “continuity” again 040902 ... kx21 *** * o & 1 vs. Discrete & Continuous *** Let o = Discrete and 1 = Continuous 0 * 1 = ? Tell one that... And_I_will_tell_you_how_wonder_you_are... 040903 ... . M_Hint:- "Fuzzy" 040903 ... (z) i was alarmed to discover that it is not universally understood that all numbers had personalities. and astonishing that the interactions between those unrecognized traits are not used to quickly predict the answers to math problems. i used to have to parse the different aggressiveness of primes or the passivity of digital numbers in order to explain my solutions to other people. the first entry to this thread is extremely familiar. i am often as obtuse. 040903 ... kx21 *** * 0 & 1 vs. Apple & Orange *** Let 0 = Apple & 1 = Orange... 0 + A's... = 1 - O's... A's... = ? & O's... = ? 040903 ... . M_Hint: koan_x_21 040903 ... . iLink:- Mathematical_Biology 040906 what's it to you? who go blather from