So, I’ve been thinking about math lately. This is weird, I know. Who thinks about math? Math teachers, I suppose. Mathematicians. And… geeks. I guess. Like me. *shamed*

Anyway, I got to thinking about this because, say, my fourth grade math teacher actually reads and comments occasionally on my blog. Wow. Who knew math teachers knit? ;-) I don’t remember much about 4th grade math class, granted, except one thing: Mad Minutes. This is where you have a sheet filled with math problems (easy stuff, it’s gradeschool, come on…) and you have to do as many as humanly possible in one minute.

I don’t know if anyone else in the world ever did these, or if this was just our thing, but these suckers implanted themselves in my brain, and to this day, I do very little of anything repetitive (say, knitting…) without looking at the clock, and then trying to do as much as I can in one minute, I kid you not. Then, worse, I try to beat my “score” every time. I tell you, I can trace it all back to math class…

Along those lines, BrainAge, for Nintendo DS, has this “cute” (harhar) little game where you do tons of little math problems as quickly as possible, JUST LIKE THE MAD MINUTES. And why is it that I can never remember, no matter how many times I try, whether 8×7 is 54 or 56? Likewise, 9×6 always messes me up too… *shakes head* Brain Age also has a lot of much more evil minigames, like the “count how many people are remaining in the house as they fly in and out super fast” game. I really suck that one up, I’ll tell you….

Also, math in general is on my mind, because gosh, come August, when I go back to school, I’m gonna have to see how much algebra I actually remember. And then… probably take classes, because really, about the only algebra I really remember is *really* basic algebra. You know, “70% of X = 120″ type stuff, which, I confess, I use all the time. But college level algebra? Never needed it. Don’t use it. Don’t remember it. Gah, taking lots of math classes….

But maybe I’ll do a good search online for some sort of remedial algebra sites or something and see if I can dust off my brain and brush up and maybe pass the placement exams and survive without having to pay lots of money. There’s an idea! If only I hadn’t sold my math textbook back to the college way back when…

4 Comments »

1. LOL…I definitely remember those Mad Minutes! (BTW, they are a ‘new’ happening thing now that No Child Left Behind happened along.) I’ll share some good algebra review books when we get together to knit…maybe we can see how many stitches per minute?!

   Comment by dobarah — February 27, 2008 @ 4:47 pm

2. I don’t know if they were called mad minutes or not but I remember doing similar exercises. It helped immensely with my addition/subtraction but I suck at algebra so hard that I failed pre-algebra! Never could wrap my head around it.

   Anyways lol…I really want to pick up BrainAge (and 2) because I tried download play with my mother in law and loved it. It’ll probably drive me mad because I’m obsessive about getting perfect scores on games, but it was so fun!

   Comment by Christine — February 28, 2008 @ 12:54 pm

3. It’s been almost 15 years and I have to admit that Mad Minutes scared the crap at me.
   I had a hard enough time doing math let alone having to do math clocked with a timer.
   Don’t worry Mrs. Wickum. I am not wounded because of Mad Minutes…I just get a little jumpy around timers. :)

   Comment by Janna — March 4, 2008 @ 4:47 pm

4. And I can’t write neither. I meant to say that Mad Minutes scared the crap “out of me” not “at me”. I think I should get back to work editing the paper now…I might have missed a few typos.

   Comment by Janna — March 4, 2008 @ 4:48 pm

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