In reply to:
the problem with math(s) is, we start kids off with algerba, and while it is a place to start, we keep at it..for ages.. i liked math so much better when i started to learn other branches... non-euclidian geometery, geometery, numbers (and bases binary, octal, hex, and all the other ones) fibonacci numbers, golden ratio's... there are so many wonderful ideas.. and we get get bogged down doing long division to 5 places!--
You're right, the higher levels of math are a lot more fun than the pedestrian arithmetic of grammar school and junior high. One of my mathematics professors in college wasn't very good at arithmetic at all, and he would frequently point out that math and arithmetic were not the same things. Once a friend of mine expressed a combination of horror and wonder that I was majoring in math. He said, "Man, long division, that's what did me in!" I got the impression that he thought college math was just longer and longer division, with the occasional word problem (in Swahili) thrown in.
