Question: why are you so interested in mathmatics and math technices,i find it boring

Suzanne McEndoo answered on 18 Mar 2012:

Good question, and I’ve been waiting to answer it til I have time to give you a good answer. There are lots of reasons and I’m gonna be super honest with you. This is in no particular order

* I like patterns. I think humans in general like patterns. Hence wallpaper! Seriously though, we’re hard wired to spot patterns in the world around you. Music is nice because it’s based on patterns. Poems and songs are patterns of words. Our brain likes the sound patterns when words rhyme.

* Maths is the only area of science where proof really exists. In physics we can say “I think it goes like this and here’s why. Here are some things we expect to see if I’m right”. We test these things, and if they’re right we keep the idea, and if they’re wrong we find a new idea, but we can never say that we won’t come up with a more refined idea eventually. Maths isn’t really like this, with maths you can say things with certainty. It’s really simple, for example, to prove that there are an infinite number of primes. Whatever prime you can think of, there’s a bigger one, and a bigger one after that, and there will always be a bigger one.

Or another example, we can prove with maths that you can’t use a compas and ruler to split an angle into three equal parts (trisecting an angle). We know that’s it’s true. Nobody is going to suddenly come up with a way of doing it that we haven’t come up with, we straight out know it’s impossible.

That’s a pretty powerful idea to me, knowing that some things are true. That the maths I work with is true, because I’ve seen the steps that it came from, and how they all build on each other.

* I’m good at it. I like doing stuff I’m good at, and maths, for some reason, makes sense in my head. It’s easy to be interested in stuff that you understand. It’s harder (but not at all impossible) if you find the subject confusing.

* Ultimately, random chance. There’s lots of stuff that other people like that I find boring. I have no clue at all about football and I don’t see that changing. If maths isn’t what floats your boat, that’s cool. It is useful though, so it’s worth paying attention to it while you’re in school, so you have the skills you’ll need in future jobs. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who said “I wish I’d learned less maths in school”.

* Because dude! It’s fun! Check out this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK5Z709J2eo and then check out all her other videos.