Readin', Writin' and Excel

I didn't write yesterday. Oh, I allotted time to write and I had a list of random thoughts to write about; just didn't sit down at the keyboard. Now, that isn't to say that I wasn't a productive citizen. I had a wonderful lunch with an old friend, went through 100 pages of Dan Brown's book and attended a sneak preview at the USC School of Dance (very impressive!); and I managed to do some work on my personal finances.

Checking my cash flow and my budget, I noticed that, while I may be very good at the reading and writing, my 'rithmatic is on hiatus. I actually entered 75 plus 35 in the calculator. I might as well have entered 2 plus 2. What happened?

I remember, as a young student, how many of my peers would always question "why do we need to know Algebra?" "We'll never use it in real life!" I knew better. I knew that math was important and that I would need it in "real life". I did need it. I needed it to balance my check book; I needed it to figure out which credit card was getting how much money; I needed it to do the profit and loss statements at work; I needed it to do budgets; I needed it to figure out who got what salary increase; I needed it to figure out which flight I could take to get me to my meeting on time in three time zones away. And I needed it to figure out the appropriate tip for the bartender. Numbers were, are, my life.

I remember finance, accounting and statistics classes and committing formulas to memory. I remember learning ways to use numbers to solve what seemed insurmountable problems. I scribbled formulas and calculated the answer to the identity of "X".

And then came those HP calculators; and then we were allowed to use calculators for tests. And then there were personal computers; and spreadsheet programs like Lotus and Excel. You still need to know your formulas to make the spreadsheets work,but you did not need to know how to add, subtract, multiply and divide. Why tax your brain with such mundane functions when the little device can do it for you. Common algebraic equations are already programmed into the hand held computer. Push this button, push that button and voila - the answer.

I cringe when I see a table of patrons at a restaurant pull out their cell phones and begin dividing up the dinner bill and calculating tips. I've lost a lot of money over the years by just grabbing the check and paying it to avoid the "you had the Cobb Salad and that was $11 and the martini was $7 and a 17.5% tip would be ????? Split it four ways and leave 20%!

I still hear young students today complaining, "why do I need to know algebra? why do I need to know geography? why do I need to know science?. You need to be financially accountable, you need to know where you are and where you are going and you need to know what household cleansers you can mix without blowing yourself up. If you don't learn these subjects you will never make it on Amazing Race!

Now to use Spellcheck and publish post. . .damn, my spelling has gotten bad too! Time to separate from the "borg".