First of all, a confession: I am not that great at math. I used to get cold sweats in school before math tests and I used to cheat by writing the equations on really small pieces of paper that I would then copy on to my scratch notes, and then scrunch up and get rid of the evidence. I think I once carved the quadratic formula on the side of a pencil. Can the people at PHS take away my diploma at this late date? I never cheated in any way that I consider immoral - I just could not memorize the equations. I hear nowadays the kids are allowed to bring in notes and a calculator. I think the important thing is to be able to understand what you are doing, not to be able to memorize a bunch of number.
I actually do use Math on a day to day basis. I use it to analyze my investments, help my company's management with Excel, find it very helpful when cooking, and lately as I am writing knitting patterns. It turns out that knitting is a very mathematically intensive activity.
1. Revenge of the Nerds. When I was in high school, this was the nerd anthem!
2. Today's version - 21, in which the math genius gets to make mucho dollars whilst partying in fancy las vegas hotels. Winner winner chicken dinner!
3. A Beautiful Mind. Although I am not sure I want to suffer from shizophrenia in order to have that level of genius thrust upon me. Russell Crowe has a beautiful "something" however, and as I have stated before, he can be my "Master and Commander" anytime he wants.
4. Good Will Hunting. Do you like apples? I just got her number, how do you like them apples?"
5. Hackers. Although completely unrealistic, it glamorized computers, and that was a good thing.
