Wherein I complain about mathmatics.
First of all, somebody please explain to me why it is that any number (x) raised to the zero power is equal to one. Why isn't it zero? Or (x)? Since exponents are telling you how many times to multiply (x) with itself, if the exponent is zero, that means you multiply it by itself zero times, which to my thinking means you should just have zero. Why doesn't it work that way?Where the hell does the 1 come from? Is it magic? It's magic, isn't it? All this talk of science and reason and logic, and it's really just magic in disguise, isn't it?
In case you can't tell, the algebra review kicked my arse today. There were only 19 problems, but almost all of them were all multi-part (like, 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, etc.), so it was really more like 30 or 40 problems. I hate when textbooks pull that shit. It's sneaky. Cheating. And I realized that a big problem I have with math exercises in general is somewhat ideological. I like numbers to have a purpose. I'd gladly do word problems til the end of time*, because then there's context, and a reason for doing it. Also, it turns out that the calculator in my brain is just not that good. It's slow, and prone to simple math errors, which always bites me in the rear when I'm trying to figure out higher-level functions and processes and end up getting the wrong answer not because of my process, but because I subtracted wrong, you know? So when I'm faced with a random algebraic equation that's full of crazy-ass fractions, negative numbers and shit like that whose only purpose is (seemingly) to clog up my poor arithmetic while I'm trying to master something more complex, I get really mad. It's almost never a matter of procedure that dooms me, but those damn arithmetic mistakes. I could probably do math exercises until the end of time, and I wouldn't get any better at it. I simply don't have the mental RAM to do this stuff as well or as quickly as it wants me to. I'm not wired for it.
All this is not to say that "I hate math." I did, for a long time, because my inability to understand it and do well was extremely frustrating. Once I hit high school and my brain matured a little, I started to grasp it better and once I started seeing how everything fit together and found teachers who could present the material in small enough bites that I could grasp it without getting lost, I began to enjoy it. I like figuring things out, and it's amazing the kinds of otherwise impossible situations you can solve if you know how to process the numbers. And I can do it. I tested into pre-calculus when I entered college, so I know I have the ability, and I want to develop it. But...*flails*. I'm just so darn slooooooow.
I wouldn't be venting so much about all this, but I confirmed the fact that there are no calculators allowed for the GRE, which means I'll have to complete 28 exercises in 45 minutes with nothing but my brain and a piece of scratch paper. Urk.
Random edit: OMG, what was that buzzy noise that just shot past my head? Is there a big brown stink bug in here? I don't see anything, but I swear I heard it! *shudder*shudder*shudder*