Fun with numbers - Front Lines
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I've never been much of a mathematician. Algebra and geometry put a major downward drag on my GPA in high school, and pre-calculus was the only "D" I made in college. To this day, I believe the instructor gave me that hard-earned "D" simply because I showed up for class every day and always turned in my homework, even if it wasn't right.

The lack of math requirements played a large part in my decision to major in English, and while it may have narrowed certain employment opportunities after graduation, I remain convinced to this day that I might not have a bachelor's degree, much less a master's, had I attempted a course of study that required anything beyond the minimum required math courses.

Still, I'm handy enough with a calculator and a spreadsheet that I can more or less keep my checkbook straight and slog through a Form 1040 every spring. And for the time being, I can more or less keep my checkbook straight and slog through a Form 1040 every spring. And for the time being, I can still stay enough ahead of my 11-year-old to help her with her math homework, although this task is increasingly challenging. Last year, I could solve most of her problems as I looked at them, but the answers are no longer so readily apparent. Even if the steps to solve the problem are apparent at a glance, I still have to work them out along with her to get the answer. It won't be long before the curriculum will carry her beyond my meager abilities.

To date, one of my most bizarre forays into the world of mathematics came some nine years ago when I audited a survey methods course while working on my master's thesis. One of my thesis advisers required me to sit in on the class, taught by her husband, as a condition for serving on my committee. I was planning to conduct some empirical research, and my data analysis needed to be a little more in-depth than Richard Dawson's "And the survey said..." shitch from Family Feud.