Sink or Swim

When Not Knowing Math Can Cost you $15,000


Admit it, you watched this video and you picked 16, too. Initially, I did!


            Math can trip you up in all sorts of ways and it can be very sneaky, which is very apparent in this video. However, it is one of the most useful tools you can use in your life. Math is a skill, much like the ability to swim, that a lot of us take for granted. Math is a lot like learning to swim: some of us grew up with it, eventually learned it on our own and continued to develop our abilities.

            There are some of us, however, that have not been as fortunate. Some people grew up with little knowledge of math. Because math became a "mysterious unknown" to them, they learned to fear it. Think of it this way, math can be as scary of an experience as falling head first into a pool with little ability to swim.

            This is what it all comes down to: Will you sink or will you swim? This means that in a situation where you jump head first into math, will you let it get the best of you or will you persevere and learn to get better? In the case of the man in the video, he allowed himself to go with the flow and let others answer for him, but if he hadn't been so afraid of math and took his time to truly weigh his options, he could have possibly been $15,000 dollars richer!


            Let's reevaluate the problem given. It was:

"Which of these square numbers also happens to be the product of two smaller square numbers?"

            The correct answer was 25. As she explains at the end, the reason this was the correct answer was because four squared plus three squared, (aka sixteen plus nine) is equal to 25. It meets the criteria because it contains two smaller squared numbers, but you can get tripped up on the wording easily and believe that 16 is your best shot at that fortune.

 
            Math is difficult; it is not easy, it can be overwhelming at times, but it is one of the few things you will actually use in your everyday lives. Sure, you may not need to know what numbers are made up of  other square numbers on a regular basis, but having this knowledge doesn't hurt! It may even help you when you least expect it! So don't let math intimidate you and do not let it get the best of you! Remember, when the going gets tough, just keep swimming!