Do the Math...

I don’t remember much of the math I took in school but the math I remember has to do with one or two things, budgeting my checkbook and figuring out a sewing or knitting pattern. I exceeded at math in school but I really didn’t want to spend my life doing more of it then I have to. However now I wish I remembered how to do fractions, geometry and basic algebra better than I do. The number of times I wish I could remember the how to figure out a circumfuse of a circle, or how to figure out square feet of a room are starting to abound. That phrase if you don’t use it you lose it has never been more true and I wish it wasn’t.

We all remember the basics but we all do that every day, when we are handling money, cooking, figuring out time vs. distance when we are driving and if we have children helping them with their homework, at least until they get to a certain age and we don’t remember that grade never mind how to do the math. We even scratch are mind trying to remember the name of the math teacher we had when we had that complicated puzzle your child has placed in front of you. My mother’s words, “We’ll let that rest till your father comes home.”

Recently was trying to figure out how I did the math for a scarf I did back in August, when a customer asked for one like it but a little wider and longer. I scratched my head for an hour looking at the math problems all over my pattern page. I needed to know how many more stiches I needed to add to the side in order for it to be the width she wanted. I figured out the math, re-did it for my new inches and low and behold I still got it wrong.

Now I am looking at replacing the floors in my house. Problem with that I have to figure out square footage. After a bit of research, I had it figured out. Now when I go to get the flooring I really hope my math is right. Maybe by the time I get to the last room I’ll have figuring out the square footage down to a science.