Maths, was Time-line inconsistency from Quidditch

[dfrankis at dial.pipex.com]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., joym999 at a... wrote:
> --- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., "Sam Brown" <find_sam at h...> wrote:
> > Are *any* writers good at maths? Is anyone? Maths... *shudders* I 
> > still have a copy of the maths paper I did for my final exams at 
> > school last year. How I managed to get *any* correct is beyond 
me. 

> 
> I dont know if any writers are good at math, but lots of people are 
> good at it, including myself.  Lots more people, however, are not 
> good at math and dont like it.  People usually look at me like I am 
> nuts (which I am, but thats beside the point) when I tell them that 
> my all time favorite college classes were my calculus classes and 
> that I like to do calculus problems just for fun.  Whenever I have 
a 
> friend taking calculus I always tell them to send me any really 
hard 
> problems they get.
> 

However, I do think that most people, especially women, have 
> far more mathematical ability than they give themselves credit 
for.  
> Math, at least in the U.S., is very poorly taught, and many people 
> who teach elementary school have very little math ability and so do 
> not communicate those skills to the children they teach.
> 
> And yes, I am an American, and I have also noticed that Americans 
say 
> math whereas people from the UK and Australia say maths.  I have no 
> idea why, but it is pretty strange.
> 
> So, all you college students out there, let me know if you need 
help 
> with your calculus homework.
> 
> --Joywitch, who has now CONVINCED all the HP4GUers that she is a 
> complete nutcase

Not so!

I love maths, and I'm good at it (Oxford 1st).  I've met people who 
are good but happy to leave it behind.  I agree with Joy that many 
people are bad at it because they think they are.  Others do have 
genuine issues with the degree of abstraction involved ('let x be a 
number such that...').

I do write lot of reports in my work, but I suppose that doesn't 
count.

I think of maths as a plural word, though I'm a bit hazy as to what 
it's the plural of (apart from math, that is).  A bit like physics, I 
suppose.

Going dangerously on-topic, good mathematicians usually have 
something called mathematical intuition.  Harry has something 
similar, IMO.  That's how he knew to stab the diary with the fang - 
he 'felt the shape' of the magic, and 'knew' this was Tom's weak 
spot.  I think Jo Rowling has this quality too, whatever her ability 
with sums.  There is a coherence about most of her magic which is 
what enables us to discuss the little inconsistencies so endlessly.

David, also happy to help with problems...