"Choosing trust over doubt gets me burned once in a while, but I'd rather be singed than hardened." -Victoria Monfort










Thursday, July 03, 2008

Two plus two is yellow...

I can pretty much decide how to get a math problem done, whenever I am able to use an excel formula, and a calculator. I cannot really divide or multiply fractions. Or, multipy double digits. Or, add really without the use of my fingers. I took basic, general, and business math. No pre intro to calculus. No algebra. No "I'm thinking of taking algegra in 6 years so teach me word problems". If that's even a class. See, I dunno if that even exists.

So, whenever I figure math out, I'm freaking amazed with myself. Today, I did a dance, and squealed because I did this without the use of excel, or a calculater. Ahem.

Employee A wants to take vacation time today. Supervisor has to maintain a spreadsheet of everyones vacation usage. Said spreadsheet is tracked in days. Such as "1" being an 8 hour shift. Employee A wants to take two hours of vacation time. What is the fraction of a day that should be entered into the spreadsheet?

Holey fuck it's math!

So I told Employee A I didn't know how to enter it, but I would figure it out. I said this out loud while using my fingers.....

  • 1 day is 8 hours
  • 2 hours goes into 8 hours 4 times (I came to this conclusion by eliminating fingers two at a time while holding up 8 fingers)
  • (Holding up 4 fingers) omg, 2 hours is 1/4th of a full day 2, 4, 6, 8
  • omg, 4 quarters in a dollar, so 1/4 of a day is a quarter, so thats .25

Great scott I've figured it out! You are taking .25 of a vacation day! *Angels sing*

I told you I'm freaking brilliant!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

You did good!

I can't say I would have done the same.

I would have called Ken and asked him to do it for me.

Math scares me!

-Kat (NOT a Mathlete)

Fizzgig said...

Kat:
You said mathlete. You may not be a mathlete but you were in the honor society. buuuuurn. P.s. Your mom goes to college!

Anonymous said...

LOL - Most impressive :)

Alaskan Dave Down Under said...

*golf clap*

Congrats on figuring it out yourself, good on ya, mate.

Anonymous said...

You have a gift! Congratulations for getting the tough stuff all figgereded out!

janbran said...

I have a t-shirt saying I saved to my My Space that says "Math Makes Me Mad". I have come to terms with my childhood relationship with math though. Teaching basic math to 3rd graders has been pretty therapeutic that way. :)

Anonymous said...

Geeezus Mon, why aren't you teaching at Harvard???? lol