The Magic of Mathematics

I remember when I took mathematics back in high school. It was a drag! Many problems with few given solutions at the back of my mathematics book and many times my teachers just didn't take the time to work the homework problems, so I got quite frustrated. They were busy meeting the demands of the principle and delivering the curricula that was set for them.

So, they were poor slaves in the educational system. However, despite this frustration, I also found great "grace" in mathematics. In fact, I complete five mathematics courses in four years during high school (algebra, geometry, algebra two, precalculus and calculus), and even considered a career as an actuarial mathematician.

However, over the years after college, I feel in love with computers and computer science, programming, software, documentation, but have taken steps recently to recapture my love for mathematics. I finished my MS Mathematics Education Degree at Nova Southeastern University and have thus recaptured my math skills. Math is magical because it helps you to "reason" your way through a problem in small steps until a final solution is determined.

Math, in many ways, is philosophical and helps the student learn to reason from within the parameters of certain math principles and laws. So, it is a real blessing to be able to think in this way. In the world of business, we are presented with parameters at a job or on a project, so must work toward a solution, but at the same time respect the very parameters that define the project. This is the real "magic" behind math: you learn to "use the rules" and rather than see them as barriers or obstacle, you begin to see them as real helpers toward finding the final solution.

Mathematics is a great skill and should be applied in business - in accounting and finance alike. Professionals from both professions have much to gain by opening their old math books and working some problems. They are getting back in touch with the essence of their decision making abilities. This can translate back to them in many ways - and soon they will find themselves succeeding at work and in all number-crunching endeavors.

Regards, Keith Johnson, Webmaster "FreeMathRescue.com"

Keith Johnson, M.S. Education

Hallandale Beach, FL, USA

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