But, it took a few steps before I could get started.
First, I had to prove I was a citizen.
.
The country (and university) has gotten so nutty. Even though I was a student here nearly 40 years ago and I’ve been an employee for about 25 years and have three degrees from the school and I have been on its computer system from the time there was a computer system, I still needed to take my passport and show it to a lady in the administration building so she could tell the computer that I was a citizen and it was OK for me to take math 112 and not have to pay out of state (or country) tuition.
Then I figured out that the HP calculator that served me so well last semester wasn’t allowed this semester. It is too good. Heaven forbid that students get to use the best tool for the job. Might make us lazy. So, the calculator of choice for lower level math classes is the Texas Instruments 84+ Silver Edition. So, on to craigslist I went.
There were several to choose from. Plenty of students had just gotten their grades and were celebrating never having to take another math class by selling their TI 84s cheap. I arranged to meet Tristian at a park, just before a Hanukah party Gail and I were going to. It made me kinda nostalgic. The rendezvous at the agreed-on location, in the semi-darkness. He had the stuff. I had the cash. He had a tough looking SUV. I had my girl (Gail) in the car. Money changed hands and we left. I hadn’t done anything like that since I was sixteen.
Actually, Tristian was a nice young person who was hoping to become a math teacher some day, preferably at the college level. He had bought the calculator used from someone else and now it was my turn. He wished me good luck and I did the same to him.
The textbook, at first glance didn’t look nearly as intimidating as the text did last semester. At least now I know some of the language and have some clue about what words like functions and inequalities mean in a math environment.
Unfortunately though, this book doesn’t have any online or CD support, just a pretty crummy “solutions manual” that I bought used for $21. That is going to be a problem. Last semester, the online drills and examples and animations walking me through problems and the movies working step by step through specific problems worked wonders for me. Learning math the 19th century way I think will be a lot harder.
It surprises and disappoints me that the community college is using more modern (and beneficial) teaching techniques than my famous Research I university. And it also tells me how much trouble we’re in when the university can’t even afford computer blackboards in its math classrooms and Seth has one at the high school where he teaches.
I jumped into the first chapter and read through the first section. I thought I “got it” until I began to do some of the practice problems. I didn’t get a single one right, but did understand the solutions in the workbook. I suppose that’s something.
Why do this?
I still don’t have an answer. I wonder if I ever will. I wonder if I need to. It’s not fun, but I like it. I imagine what I am getting out of the process now feels the same as people feel when they do crossword puzzles. It feels good to get one done. And someday they will be able to move up to the Thursday puzzle from the Wednesday puzzle.
I’m still curious about what comes next and what I will learn. I like my new calculator toys and learning how they work. I really enjoy meeting people I would never have met if I didn’t enter this world. And I don’t know enough about that world to even have a guess about what doors a little knowledge of math might reveal or even open.
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