re: #420 vxbush

I actually have had trouble teaching math below the level of algebra because it’s just so obvious for me now. I don’t understand why people can’t see it. Why fractions are problematic is a mystery to me.

Funny, fractions are one thing I’m pretty good at. I can factor the heck out of a fraction and reduce it like crazy.

As we’re talking about math phobia and innumeracy, it occurs to me that the best thing that ever happened to my math skills was playing cards with my dad. He got very impatient when I was slow at counting up my cards, so he taught me to make tens by pairing the cards - 4 +6 =10, 3+7 = 10, etc. My basic arithmetic skills got much better after that because I started looking for shortcuts and found my own way to do things.