Maths, was Time-line inconsistency from Quidditch

[Amy Z]

Joywitch wrote:

> 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.

Or, as the Australians would say, calculi homework.  ;-)

> --Joywitch, who has now CONVINCED all the HP4GUers that she is a 
> complete nutcase

It's kind of sad that someone is regarded as a nutcase for loving 
math.  We don't give funny looks to people who say "biology is my 
favorite subjects"--though we do tend to give funny looks to people 
who say they do anything academic for fun.  But here on this list we 
are engaged in the kinds of things our English teachers wanted us to 
do, purely voluntarily.  Buck the anti-intellectual system!

I have a theoretical love of math, but always struggled with it from 
7th grade (=age 12) on.  Now I look back at geometry in particular 
and think it looks like fun, and I taught pre-algebra and algebra and 
found them both nifty--in the intervening years they had come to make 
sense and be quite easy.  The brief moments when I got the concept in 
calculus were terrific, even though most of that class was 
unmitigated hell (it would have helped if I'd done the homework, but 
I was so overwhelmed I just spiraled into Math Despair).  Maybe one 
day when I'm homeschooling my kid I'll learn the stuff that didn't 
get through my skull in high school.

Amy