Maths is essential for a raft of qualifications and careers. Photo / 123RF
Maths is essential for a raft of qualifications and careers. Photo / 123RF
Opinion
COMMENT:
I was a total maths failure. If I passed a test or an exam, it was unusual and only just. Why was I so bad at maths? It hasn't bothered me, but occasionally I've pondered it.
Right or wrong, my explanation is that I never established a good groundingin maths. I knew the times tables up to 12 x 12 and have never forgotten. But beyond rote learning and into algebra, trigonometry, etc... hopeless. I never had an inspirational maths teacher or an aspiration to conquer it.
The greatest maths victory I had was the most important challenge I faced in the subject - university entrance. I took some coaching from a friend's older brother, who was a science genius, and actually worked my butt off.
But it was still a disaster. After the exam, I worked out that the best mark I could possibly get was around 40 per cent. I well remember feeling gutted. When the results were published in the paper, there it was - a P for pass. My scientist coach was a genius because he got me through, and shortly thereafter, won a prestigious scholarship to the US.
There are numerous reasons why maths is on my mind. In no particular order, because it seems we are short of mathematicians in New Zealand. Because maths seems to be playing a much bigger role than it used to. Either that, or it's getting more publicity in various fields. I'm certainly paying much more attention to it for one reason or another.
Leighton Smith was 100 per cent bad at maths - and his exam result proved it. Photo / Brett Phibbs
More likely, it's the time and attention being paid to education, or maybe its algorithms, a word that is on everyone's lips, presently. Maybe, it is just plain interesting.
The Math Behind Successful Relationships, for example. There is 30 years work behind that headline, combining maths and psychology. John Gottman, the psychologist, and James Murray, the mathematician, created a mathematical model that was amazingly accurate in predicting divorces.
Some 130 couples were videoed three times, for 15 minutes each, discussing first, their day; second, a positive matter of their choice; and third, a contentious subject.
Each couple was either recently, or about to be, married. Scores between plus four to minus four were allocated to 16 different emotions, ranging from joint laughter to contempt.
All the couples they predicted would divorce did so, mostly within four years. Unfortunately, so did a few others.
A mathematical model has proved amazingly accurate in predicting divorces. Photo / 123RF
Maths, of course, is essential for a raft of qualifications and careers. Medicine, physics, chemistry, engineering, as well as any number of trades.
Which brings me to Romanians. According to US News magazine, Romania ranks number 64 in the world on all the usual categories, compared to New Zealand's 12th placement. It's a poor country but has turned out some very successful people, such as Adrian Bejan, who moved to America at 19.
Now 70, he is a professor of mechanical engineering at Duke University, North Carolina. In 2018, he was awarded the Benjamin Franklin Medal for thermodynamics and "constructal theory, which predicts natural design and its evolution in engineering, scientific and social systems". In his field, Bejan is a raging success.
It is the social systems that interest me. Particularly pertaining to economics. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Bejan said: "Economic and social inequality is the inevitable result of physical laws. Hierarchy is not imposed, it is natural. Equality, however, is artificial because it violates the law of evolution in nature. Physics is not about justice or fairness, but about what happens in nature."
Maths might well be fun but only for those good at it - and it shouldn't matter if our strengths lie elsewhere. Photo / File
Further: "Artificial constraints that limit the freedom of a system to change might work for a while. But they are ultimately doomed because they are not just fighting against the will of the people but the laws of physics."
He sums up by arguing that the chief impediment "is the absence of a culture that encourages and rewards freedom to question authority, to speak up, inquire, innovate, and implement change".
Stefan Mandel, a Romanian/Australian economist, rigorously studied the maths involved, then developed an algorithm that won him 14 lotteries. The first two were in Romania, where he earned $88 a month, then more in Australia, before a $27 million Virginia State lottery.
Such were the costs of his ventures, Mandel did not end up substantially wealthy. Details are a little sketchy, but he appears to be living in Vanuatu, and he did a stint in an Israeli prison.
What is the takeaway from all this? We could use the advice from Bejan, and stop trying to equalise every aspect of our existence. The career IQ test I did in early high school suggested engineering. The profession got lucky. And was I really so bad at maths? 100 per cent.
