Can you pass eighth grade?

Oh shit. Did I d_b?

I might have busted my d_b cherry.

 

Theoretically, shouldn't you have done the best on this, considering you just went through eighth grade three years ago?

 

I remember getting into a pissing match with my geometry teacher in high school and I finally said, "I'm never going to need this garbage in my real-life job!"

And y'know what? I made damn sure I wouldn't, either. That's why I became a writer. :

 

Geometry is about logic. It teaches a person how to think.
That's why it is useful to everyone, regardless of a person's future occupation.

 

It's was actually 4 years ago and yes, I should've done the best. But come on man....we talkin' bout practice.

 

Flattery is the sincerest form of imitation. Err ... whateva.

Anyway, I had this argument with my mother 8,428 times. I had it with every math teacher from eighth grade to 11th grade. I had it with a science teacher or three. Probably a few other adults that I can't remember now.

But yes, I made damn sure I wouldn't need it, either. I consciously chose a career path that did not use any of that shit -- the same shit that I deemed "useless" at 14 has, indeed, been useless to me in my entire (brief) adult life.

 

I'll say this much ... algebra helped me, as far as figuring column widths on pages and things like that. Batting averages in my head. ERAs.

Past algebra ... uh-uh.

 

Of course, you use the quadratic formula to figure out someone's VORP.

 

x = earned runs
y = innings pitched
x/y x 9 = ERA.

Solve for ERA.

It's not solving a word problem involving a train from Chicago, but it ain't rocket science either.

 

I hear ya. But I do. On pages, I have to.

58-pica page, 18-pica column on right. What's left for each column of three remaining?

40=x+1+x+1+x+1 (1-pica gutter), 40=3x+3...etc.

 

Buck --
I had a HS Algebra II teacher who would violently disagree with you regarding geometry.

He claimed it was all set up on a bunch of bogus premises and had no overall coherence. He would rant about this at least once a week.

Then he would diagram, on the board, a geometric proof showing that 2+2=3.

He was sort of crazy, but as an avowed geometry hater, I played along.