Everyone, and I mean, everyone keeps asking me why I majored in mathematics. Some with an amused look on their face, some with a horrified look but there is always a look and it is almost always a rhetorical question. And before I can delve into a carefully articulate, well-thought out but still simple explanation, they discard me as either
a) weird or
b) confused or
c) having poor career planning skills or
d) boring or
e) some of the above or worse,
f) all of the above
Most of the people assume that mathematicians should be teaching- only teaching. Some actually wonder aloud what a mathematician can do that could be of any value in or contribution to real life (other than teaching i.e.)
So I thought I should write about it; clear some misconceptions, put some perspective out there, educate my fellow human beings who think math is a waste of space and is limited to hurried calculations and long, heavily symbolized formulas that are just a pain to learn; who are only too happy to scrape a passing grade without actually learning anything…
Before I come back to this blog and get down to writing the real thing, let me leave you with a simple question: How do airlines figure out their routes- which flight should go to which location at which time with which staff?
Let me just tell you, it is not by trial and error.
Related articles
- Missing math (humasattars.wordpress.com)
