Saturday the 14th is Worse

Sometimes we need a silly day.
Saturday the 14th was the name of a really corny B movie for kids. The movie was bad, but the pun is
just too tempting.

Today is also "Pi day"  You know 3.1415, or 22/7??  (March 14, 2015)
It's a silly day but kind of fun because for the most part, America views mathematics as a non fun thing and impractical; that is, unless you are a math geek.

I am not. 

In fact, I have always hated math until I had to fight for a few years to re-teach junior high school mathematics to adult students, and I'm here to tell you that some days it can really hurt.

But, from this experience I gleaned some very valuable lessons:

1. You are never too old to learn

2. If something is practical and useful, people will learn it (provided they want to)

3. Math is all about solving problems (provided we remember the second rule)

In a way, this sounds like Isaac Asimov's  three laws of robotics, but not quite.

To make a long story short, Pi (the 16th letter of the Greek alphabet) is the symbol used for the ratio of the number of times the diameter of a circle goes into it's circumference.  With a few numbers and multiplication or division we can figure out

• The area of a circle
• The diameter of a circle
• Any area or volume of a given object
• The amount of wire on a spool or coil (with a small margin of error)
• The amount of material needed to cover or build something

In many ways, a simple math formula is like a karate kata or a doctrine in the Bible. 
It has a deep practical application if we will but take the time to learn. We can actually walk away smarter, better informed, and having made a better decision than if we had otherwise ignored the sage advice.


Now, the Bible and Word of God are of infinitely more value, but can we not glean an understating of the importance of The Word of God  from the simple (or not so simple things in mathematics) things around us?

Your Brother in Christ

And  Senpai in Karate 

先輩