Yes I am pretty sure I have Maths genes and I am pretty sure in my case they are very well hidden. My Mum's official title is "Post Graduate Research Fellow". In actual terms she does statistics for some medical research. It is what she did her PhD thesis on, but that is all I can tell you about it. I do actually own a copy of her thesis and it sits very proudly on my bookshelf, but in all honestly the only bit I understand is the dedication (which I helped write) and the acknowledgments which from memory I proofed. Dad lectures in Maths at uni and has a partially written PhD floating around (I really have no idea what his is on). Sister #2 (who is three years younger then me) just finished her Maths degree. Mum and Dad were mature aged students so I feel there is some excuse for them, but I am not so sure about my sister! It is bit odd being in a family where being half way through a law degree is a bit of a let down ;)**
Law, I feel, is one of those subject areas which clearly divides those who are science students at heart compared to those who are arts students at heart. You can pretty much tell this, but which subjects they like. Hard and fast statue based classes = science. Lots of discretion = arts. Just in my humble opinion, but it really seems to be the way it works. This is backed up by (a) what they are doing in their other degree; or (b) what they did in their first degree; or (c) what their favourite subjects were at high school; or (d) all of the above.
In high school my TEE (tertiary entry subjects) were a fifty-fifty split. But the subjects I aced were History and English Literature. The double Maths was mostly because my parents assured me they would be easy marks (see how naive I was?!). It wasn't, just for the record.
To this day I still don't know what fish breathe out and why (in my head it should be Hydrogen and I can't work out why not? This has been confusing me for seventeen years now). And don't ever get me started on imaginary numbers (I know they are the square root of negative one but I am sorry you just can't make up something to make things work I don't care often Mum assures me you can). Admittedly this is probably more proof that I need to get a life then anything else!!!
But in my home we like to celebrate all sorts of things! And I do like to prove to my parents I am expanding my children to all sorts of things not just artsy stuff***. So Happy International Pi Day everyone!!!
Our International Pi Day dinner. Homemade (aka heated) with love! We did also discuss 'Pi' as opposed to 'Pie'.
** Just in case anyone is worried about my self-esteem, this is a joke! They are all very proud of me.
*** Not that they are against artsy stuff. They are the ones who taught me to love reading and history!
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