Frazz by Jef Mallett for October 06, 2011

Did he just say April Fools day your freshman year ?

Not relating to anything can make it more fun by virtue of escapism. But in my experience, only higher-end math has failed to matter to me outside school.

I just love Frazz. :-)

I still amaze kids (and some grown-ups) that I can do math in my head.

I was thinking it’d be more around Ground Hog’s day (when I traditionally make Toad in a Hole).

I enjoy math for the sheer joy of figuring things out, but I do wish schools would teach it more with an eye towards how it’s applicable to real life. Algebra especially. Kids might be more interested.

I had a higher math teacher who, when asked when we would ever use this stuff, said that we most likely wouldn’t use these specific skills unless we were to teach higher math, BUT, this way of learning teaches our brain to think differently than it is used to, and these new ways of thinking would help us to figure out things we otherwise would not be able to-even things totally unrelated to math. I have noticed that the further people go in math, the more wise they seem to be in all aspects of life. Now if I could just relate all that without writing a run-on sentence!

I had a teacher that likened it to doing pushups and situps – you’re not going to do those in your everyday life, but you ARE going to need the muscles they develop..A friend of mine, however, justifies algebra thusly: You finish high school, finish college, finish grad school , and get a job making $125,000 a year. Because of taxes, your retirement fund, and other things, your paycheck every two weeks is $2,750. At your first review, your boss loves your work and gives you a raise to $137,000 a year. How much is your bi-weekly paycheck going to be now?

@Penandra – this past sumer I gave the clerk 4 extra pennies to round the change to a quarter, and the clerk gave me 17 cents back – subtracted the coins instead of adding them.

I was dumbfounded.

“We all use math, every day.” – Too good for TV show, intro.

@a.k.a. HausApePapa - I recently gave a clerk the extra pennies to round the change to a quarter and I got back 2 dimes and five pennies (including my original three ;) I am several years (decades) away from high school math, but have found that there are still many times when I have said (or thought) “…and I didn’t think I would ever use that after high school” (and that has applied to more than just math - has included geography, geology, history, english, and even drama (although, I cannot say that I have had much opportunity to quote Julius Caesar beyond “et tu”)

I took Frazz’s last line as helping the kid realise that he needs math right now, to answer his own question.

But if not…….well, three academic quarters: roughly Sept-Nov, Dec-Feb, Mar-May. (Jun-Aug is vacation.)

Each quarter about 13 weeks, 1/4 of that is three weeks plus a day and a quarter… so…… about March 9th, IF school started Sept 1st, and depending on when the weekends fall.

Significance = 0, cos Frazz is joking…..

But I like arithmetic. :)

And yeah, I always give or offer the even change, depending on which side of the register I’m on.

Kid cashiers (they get younger every day, don’t they?) are so used to the register telling them the correct change that they get confused.

I’ve trained quite a few, of all ages, to count up change.If you know very simple addition, you almost can’t make a mistake.

It’s considered quaint and old fashioned, but to some who learned and actually bothered to USE it, it was a welcome revelation.

I had a customer long ago who loved to tease me by giving me, with no comment, all sorts of useless odd change…

Like, say, $7.97 when his purchase was $5.63.

I’d count it back elaborately, with a straight face and more arithmetic than necessary…..

“Ok, sir, there’s $5.67, $5.72, a quarter makes $5.97, there’s $6.97 and that’s 7 dollars and 97 cents.”

He’d finally laugh.

… or when trying to split a restaurant check… with shared menu items!

I never liked math until I got a good business calc professor in college. I like to tell the clerk atthe register how much the bill will be before they ring it up. i am usually within $.03 of the exact amount. It freaks some of them out when I have 10 or more things.

[But if not……. well, three academic quarters: roughly Sept-Nov, Dec-Feb, Mar-May. (Jun-Aug is vacation.)]School quarters, in secondary school, are generally 9 weeks long, not counting vacations and weekends, so…. ;o}