All these great mathematicians, all these college
students sucking up the math scores, truly their achievement is not based on
inherent talent, skill or genius. It’s based on practice.
It’s based on several long nights; all spent solving
practice problems, some with practical applications and some without.
It’s based on several long days; all spent doing the math
in their head for simple everyday tasks.
It’s based on days and nights of doing, repeating, the
same thing, over and over again, practicing.
The secret of mathematics is practice.
Practice is what makes you perfect, especially at
mathematics.
Practice is what tells you, yes, you got the correct
change from the merchant. It tells you yes, you gave the correct change to the
customer.
It tells you yes, the total price of 3 dollars and 54
cents for 3 pounds of vegetables is correct for the stated price of 1.18
dollars per pound.
It tells you yes, buying this size of the bottle is more
cost effective than buying the other bottle.
It tells you yes, with the sale price of so much and the
discount of that much, it does make sense to get this brand rather than that
one.
It also tells you no, the cashier isn’t doing you any
favor or harm by giving you the coupon discount of 25% first and then the store
discount of 10% next. (It works out the same regardless of which discount you
apply first.)
The secret of mathematics is practice.
Practice is what tells you that you’re going too fast to
make that corner. You practice driving everyday, even if you don’t do the math
on it.
Practice is what tells you that you put too much salt on
the meat. You cook everyday, you don’t need to crunch the numbers on it.
Practice is what tells you there are too many magnets to
fit on the fridge. You look at the fridge everyday, you don’t need to pull out
the tape measure for it.
Practice tells you all these things about your daily
life, abstract as they are. And abstract as mathematics is, you get good at it
by doing it daily.
The secret of mathematics is practice.
Practiced is the painter scanning the house telling you
how many cans of paint they will need for the exteriors, for the interiors, and
for the fence.
Practiced is the house spouse figuring out if the
groceries in the cart will fit their monthly budget.
Practiced is the business owner looking at the crowd in
the bar and knowing, instantly, that they made a profit this month.
And practiced will you be when you realize math is
something you do everyday, you just don’t realize it immediately.
The secret of all mathematical genius is practice.
