SPATIAL GEOMETRY

I'm slowly coming round to the idea that there are 3 types of Maths brains. When I was a kid, I thought there were 2: those who understood Maths at school and thought it a dawdle and those who could not do anything mathematical even if someone was pointing a gun to their head and threatening death, if the kid didn't instantly understand the finer points of calculus. I never understood that. Maths always seemed boring but simple.
My dad always struck me as a reasonably mathematical person, worked in engineering, understood all the calculating etc but then one day mum got him to install fitted wardrobes in their bedroom. I came home from school to a row that went something like: I don't care how much the cornicing cost, you'll have to re-order it... I was puzzled until I entered their room to find dad had cut all the angles wrong on the cornicing right round the room...not just a little wrong but completely inside out, and was trying to convince mum she was overreacting, and that she'd get used to it...needless to say the cornicing was reordered and redone. Now, at the time, this struck me as very strange. When I look at a corner in a room I see instantly which way the angle needs to be cut to meet in the middle, so how did my reasonably mathematical dad make such a colossal balls-up? Maybe he was tired, rushing or whatever...
Now we are trying to sell the flat in Rose street. Thomas, I have always considered, in the 5 years I've known him, to be extremely clever, highly intellectual, and amongst other things mathematical almost to a nerd degree. I've seen the computing database he designed in the office - even Einstein would have trouble following it, it is so complex, and yet he's standing here with two pieces of skirting asking which edge needs to be longest in a way that my dad would be proud of. The genius brain seems to seize up completely in the face of spatial geometry. I'm feeling quite intellectually smug for once (and probably for the only time). So I need to stop blogging now and go draw him a wee diagram to show which way round the angles go ;-)

MORE MATHS

Marcel has always been good at maths, in the top group at school since his first year in primary, he is about a year and a half ahead of what is expected of him at 9, on the same textbook as a couple of kids further down the street who are 12.

Anyway, tonight in the car Charlotte was muttering away to herself. When I strained to hear what she was saying I realized she was doing mental arithmetic - calculating the total price of items she had seen in a shop. She didn't have a pen and paper but was simply adding up large sums orally. As I listened, it suddenly occurred to me that not only was she doing it carrying over numbers and the likes in her head but she was doing it logically, as any (English-speaking) adult would - that is to say if she was adding £3-27 and £4-42, she didn't add 27 and 42 but instead added 20 and 40 then 7 and 2. I asked who had taught her to add that way and she just looked at me and said - 'no one but it is just obviously easier that way!' So when I got to the house I was determined to try out an experiment. I took out Marcel's maths homework and gave it to Charlotte (who is 3 years behind him at school and only 6) And as I suspected, she managed it.

LEONHARD EULER

Pick yourself back off the floor - I realize the shock of me blogging something vaguely intellectual for a change instead of my usual inane drivel about socks or dirty nappies will shock you to the core! I did have a brain once back in the olden days, honest! When I studied 1st year university calculus and numerical analysis I had to write a computer program to prove Euler's theory of mathematical function. It took me 3 months to write, as I knew nothing about programming having only studied pure mathematics, it worked wonderfully even if I do say so myself, unfortunately it gave the wrong answer to all equations :-\ (so maybe I didn't have a brain actually). But I did pass so I guess they must have given me some marks for effort and perseverance.
Anyway, why am I on about Euler? Well Euler was the answer to a question on a quiz show Marcel was watching the other night and I actually remembered it - it is amazing what rubbish the mind pigeonholes for 2 decades only to bring to the surface, uselessly many years later. Also I didn't want my blog to be pigeonholed as complete inane drivel.