Putts and Properties

Happy Thanksgiving!

My algebra class is winding down. We only have two more meetings. One for review. One for a final.

I'm doing fine in the course, but many of my classmates aren't. Many of them may not get the "C" required to move on the the next course, College Algebra, that is required for them to be accepted into many majors, including business.

One kid, a scholarship golfer, stopped coming. I hope he didn't drop the class. I've thought about him and learning math during the semester. I've learned, during the semester, that it is about about 100 times easier to go through the steps to factor an equation than it is to hit a 300 yard drive down middle of the fare way and probably 1,000 times easier to learn how to plug numbers into the quadratic equation than it is to sink a 12 foot putt for birdie.

But he can't seem to factor or solve for x using the quadratic equation.

Out at his country club during practice, he must drive hundreds of balls a day to get it right. He must practice his putting for hours. If he didn't, he wouldn't be capable of shooting two under, like he does.

I've learned this semester that math, at this level, is pretty much mechanical -- following a recipe. First you do this, then you do this, then you do that, and pretty soon you have an answer and you're done. I've found that to be both good news and bad news. Good news because, if I'm willing to put in the time and follow the recipe over and over I can do the stuff. Bad news because it really, so far, doesn't require any imagination, insight, or inspiration.

At the same time, I tell myself, when you are learning a new language in a classroom (rather than in a bar or in bed) learning conjugation or tenses doesn't require a lot of imagination either.

A devine intervention (real time)

It was almost as if god read the paragraph I just wrote and, through the internet, said, "Bullshit."

So, seconds ago, as I was distracting myself from writing, I clicked over to check my email. Waiting for me was a message, not there five minutes earlier (last time I checked) from Paul Niquette.

Paul is someone I've been intending to introduce you to since I began this project. He is one of the smartest and most inspirational people I'll ever meet. You can read about him on his web site and I'll tell you more during a later post.

He and I, over the years have talked about many things. Bicycling. Books. Oil. Travel. Trains. Words, and Language. But we've never talked about math. And that is something he thinks about a lot. As soon as I was done with this semester's classes, I was going to call him and ask if I could tape a conversation about math and numbers. I hope I still get to.

Minutes ago, he sent me and my family some good Thanksgiving wishes along with what looked like a news release about what he had been up to. It seems that he and his firm have been involved in passing "Measure B," a ballot measure that would increase the sales tax to support the "Silicon Valley Rapid Transit Corridor through 2036." It needed to pass by a 2/3 majority (and did).

He included a teaser with his news -- a word problem. Here it is:

"On November 18th, 612,ooo votes had been counted, and barely 66.67% were in favor of Measure B. However, there were still 9,800 votes left to count. According to the last report on November 25th, Measure B was declared to have passed with 66.78% of the votes. What is the largest possible number of uncounted ballots?"

I decided to tackle the problem. So, with only a little help from Gail, I figured out that there could be as many as 2582 ballots left uncounted for the measure to have passed by 66.78%. And I couldn't believe I did the problem with just a little imagination, some insight, and a touch of inspiration.

Seth is coming over in a few minutes. I can't wait to ask him if I got the right answer.