7x7 Award

Olivia knows what you are thinking. Olivia? Received a math award?

You see, she graduated at age eleven from UC Berkeley with a degree in quantum physics. While there, she received the Nobel Prize for solving a perplexing question that has plagued mathematicians for centuries:

What is seven times seven?

UC Berkeley being, of course, the name of her kitchen table, and mathematicians referring to fellow elementary students.*

But she did solve a problem yesterday (note: this post was written several weeks ago) that her mother could not.** The radio person asked, What is five to the zeroth power?

Contrary to popular belief, it is not zero, but one. Because 5^4 is 625, and 5^3 is 125 (which is 625/5), and 5^2 is 25 (which is 125/5), and 5^1 is 5 (which is 25/5)--and so 5^0 is 5/5, which is 1. Isn't she smarticle?***

You have just witnessed a mathematical ramble--one that does not lament the methods used to teach math--one that was... almost... fun to write--and Olivia is now very concerned for her health.

But all that was not the point of this post.

Olivia means to thank Aloha for nominating her for the 7x7 Blog Award.

She hadn't heard of it until until Aloha tagged her, but it appears that one is to address seven things about one's blog, and then nominate seven other bloggers to award. The seven things to be addressed are as follows:

1. Most Beautiful Post: It is hard to answer this without feeling haughty... The most beautiful post that Olivia has written may be The Breath of Fall, but that's not saying a whole lot since she hasn't written many posts like that. The most beautifully written, if she includes all posts, as well as probably the most visually appealing, is the last From the Word post, pairing roughly the first half of Isaiah 40 with images she took in the Blue Ridge in North Carolina (plus an amaryllis, which was in her house) (that's the flower, for the botanically challenged).

2. Most Popular Post: Immanuel. If you want to increase your pageviews, post famous biblical paintings. That post is by far the most popular, and she gets traffic from Google image searches like "mother mary" or "the annunciation" from all over the world, and sometimes in other languages, which confuses her, because she's never written Mother Mary in any of the Eastern European languages.

3. Most Controversial Post: Well, non-Christians would disagree with something in nearly all her posts, but her single most controversial post might be The Woes of Mathematics (ironic that she links to this after touting her mathematical knowledge above?). A number might disagree with her views on education. She hasn't written many posts on education or on deeper subjects, though. If she gets to those, she would have a good deal of controversial posts.

4. Most Helpful Post: NaPiWriMo, because the event marks the turning point in many an aspiring novelist's career. ... No, she really doesn't have any helpful posts.

5. Most Surprisingly Successful Post: Besides the aforementioned Immanuel, which garnered 819 pageviews while the next most popular has 70, the most surprising would have to be Day 3: A Favorite Book. Again, the traffic sources to that page are from Google Images--this time for such keywords as "stack of books" or "hoarder house". Should she be concerned that her blog appeared in a search for hoarder house?

6. Most Underrated Post: While she can't complain about the pageviews for The Wonderful World of Amoebae (it was the third most popular last month, and sixth all time), she's amazed it hasn't received more comments oohing and ahing over the adorable little amoebae!****

7. And finally, Most Pride-Worthy Post: Really? Is Olivia supposed to be proud of this anthology of delirius insomnia-induced drabble? There are a few, however, that don't make her want to take this blog out and shoot it after posting. Writing in third person especially amuses her (she rewrote this post from first person to third person, in fact), and some of the posts that don't shame her terribly are The Post of Shame (...should she be concerned that this does not shame her?) and Olivia Goes to the Doctor, both epic tales chronicling the adventures of Olivia. (By the way, the wound inflicted by the malevolent Empty Box still lingers.)

And now it is time for Olivia to nominate seven lucky bloggers! She will try to pick bloggers who have not, to her knowledge, already been nominated for this award.

And I'm switching to first person, because it feels weird nominating in the third person.

Abby at a girl with wings. She's articulate and writes about a number of relevant topics in a humorous yet thought-provoking style. It's one of my favorite blogs to follow.

Olga at You Are My Hope. She's an awesome person who lives in an awesome state, and I just want her to know that I do read her blog (although I'm behind in all my blog-reading), but meany Blogger eats my comments.

Birdi at chirpings of a bluebird. She's funny and positive, even when life throws bad things her way, and quite possibly one of the nicest bloggers I follow. Her influence can be seen in my blog... like the third person writing... and tweaking (*coughcheatingcough*) the last award I received... And it's fun reading about life in New Zealand. Homeschoolers are pretty much the same everywhere!

Kayla at Dancing Flames. Another writing, reading, horse-loving, Christian homeschooler! Unfortunately she began her blog as I fell behind in my blog-reading, but I look forward to catching up on hers.

Skyeler at A Maiden's Notes. We're so similar sometimes I wonder if we're related. Her blog, for all it's reallycoolness, doesn't receive enough attention. (Not that I've given it any of late.) This ought to change!

Bubbles at Tsepic Tales. Because he's a cool person and he needs to post more!

ZNZ at jotting down notes. I don't think I've ever read her blog without laughing. She cleverly writes about the woes of writing and raptures of reading, as well as other cool stuff like cuttlefish and Galileo, and with deeply stirring artwork, too. ;)


The Nobel-winning answer, by the way, was luck sevenfold.



*She was, unfortunately, legally constrained to fifth grade at the age of eleven, because of the silly notion that those born in the last several weeks of the year are to be placed in the same grade as those born the following year. But luckily in homeschool, grade is irrelevant.
**After all, Poor is the student who does not surpass his master.
***Of course, she did not discover this reasoning on her own.
****She jests. Mostly. But who doesn't love unicellular organisms whose method of locomotion involves pseudopods?

The Woes of Mathematics

As a warning, I am tired and quite incapable of thinking clearly at the moment. This post is going to be a jumbled mess. I am going to regret posting this at such a late hour. I am going to wish I had never posted this when I am in such a state of mind. But it's Geeky Friday, and I must post something.

It may seem quite shocking that I would write a whole post all about the dreaded math.

On the other hand, it's quite shocking that I don't like it. After all, all life is biology*, all biology is physiology, all physiology is chemistry, all chemistry is physics, and all physics is math (or however the saying goes). And I'm all about learning how and why things work.

For while I didn't know why I disliked math, other than that I did. But I think I've finally pinned down my main objections to it.

Force. I was a nerd from the very start, and avidly pursued my studies beyond what was required. But all the other subjects were so interesting and exciting to me, math tended to get neglected. My mother, therefore, had to make me sit down and do my addition and subtraction.

That brought my enthusiasm to a screeching halt.

I have the unfortunate tendency to despise anything that I feel forced to do. This is, in fact, likely the primary reason I don't drive: I was forced behind the wheel a few years ago, and I think I'm about to be forced to get my permit. I have a natural response to resist pressure.

I suppose this makes me sound like a wayward, rebellious child, but I don't think this reaction is at its root necessarily a bad thing. This is the same reflex that causes me to resist societal influences.** It's just, perhaps, taken a bit too far here.

Still, coercion is an ineffective method of imparting knowledge. As Plato said, All learning which is acquired under compulsion has no hold upon the mind.

Method of problem solving. In most cases, I'd rather toil for hours until, by trial and error, I discover the solution on my very own, than read how to solve the problem their way step by step in boring detail. I skip over bits of the process, working it out in my head, and scribble out others. (This means when I am interrupted and look down at the paper again I have no idea what I was doing or how I got there.) I attempt to forge short cuts; many don't work, but some do.

This makes me wonder what people like Einstein or Stephen Hawking thought about their schooling. Not that I am anything like them, but I suspect I am better at math than standard teaching methods allow me to realize.

Of course, this is coming from someone who feels like a mathematical genius when she correctly adds two single-digit numbers on the first try. So then again, maybe not.

Lack of science. Math is fascinating as it applies to the world. But when all I'm doing is empty equations on the paper, and solving the problems brings about no scientific revelation, it feels like my time should be better spent. Math that does nothing is boring. It is intangible and pointless and dull and if ever I could find a program that taught it as it applies practically, to science, to something, oh, I would be so happy!

Lack of milkshakes. As I was pondering all this, I suddenly remembered a long-forgotten part of my life, a time in which math was a happy event. My father used to write two very large numbers (at least, they seemed impossibly long sums at the time) and ask me to add them. When I did several of these, he made me a milkshake. I had so much fun doing that. I don't remember why that stopped.


Can't someone out there write a curriculum that teaches math in a sensible way and that puts knowledge gained to use?

Anyway, what got me thinking about all of this was The Official SAT Question of the Day, which I suppose was the ultimate purpose of this post. So there you go. Have fun. Be nerdy. I really should go to bed.

*The very best subject ever.
**Besides, of course, the conscious realization that society has issues.