i feel like the illustration on the game cranium

my mind was just blown by some serious short-cut-more-understandable-and-easier math equations. they told me that is what would happen when i learned algebra in seventh grade. then they said that's what would happen with all things geometry (maybe they forgot about proofs). and finally they said that derivatives are just life handed to you on a platter in calculus.

but no. my mind was not blown by any of those things. it was blown by some basic math concepts that i learned after college because my elementary, jr. high, and high school math teachers failed to teach them to me.

let me explain. remember those nasty word problems of "two trains are coming towards each other on the tracks. one is going 50 mph and the other is going 70 mph. how long until they will meet each other?" i hated those. i could seriously care less, other than wishing the trains would just crash into each other and be done with it. but i was forced to do them. i'm pretty sure i would just write the numbers down, do some half-hearted attempts at chicken scratch process and pull some number out of nowhere. i'm also pretty sure i got them wrong almost every single time. but now, because someone explained it to me so clearly, with a nifty little equation that was heinously withheld from me, i understand. light bulb on.

Time = AB
           A+B

the other light bulb (yes, more than one. maybe i have a chandelier over my head just waiting to burst into light. don't judge.) was with combinations. this was the equation my book explained it with:

10C3 =       10!      
            3!(10-3)!

um, come again? since when do we have exclamation points in math other than to express our extreme dislike of it? it just makes me read it very emphatically in my head. teensy 10C3 equals TEN!! over THREE!! Times 10-3!!

i took one look at that and just felt frazzled.

now i know you can just use   n*n-1*n-2 . . . x
                                            k*k-1*k-2 . . . 1

i know it doesn't look any better, kind of like the word 'kleenex' in code, but you just plug numbers in, simplify and you've got your answer. all without the needless emphatic inner voice screaming improper punctuation at you.

there you have it. my enlightenment for the day. . . and did i just actually blog about math? and how excited i was by it?

what is the world coming to?

nerd.