{"id":11028,"date":"2014-02-27T12:15:12","date_gmt":"2014-02-27T20:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/?p=11028"},"modified":"2014-02-27T13:33:55","modified_gmt":"2014-02-27T21:33:55","slug":"theres-lot-math","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/2014\/02\/27\/theres-lot-math\/","title":{"rendered":"but there’s a lot of math…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Screen<\/a><\/p>\n

In a recent casual conversation with a friend, when I expressed interest in studying a particular topic, his reply was:<\/p>\n

“But there’s a lot of math…”<\/p>\n

And I realized that this reply was intended to tell me (a hapless not-mathematical female) that this would not be a topic of interest to me.\u00a0 It’s quite possible that he was right, but it got me thinking about math and my own personal math-history.<\/p>\n

When I was in 5th grade I received a C- in Math on my report card.\u00a0 My parents were shocked and angry, as was I.\u00a0 It turns out, it was a typo and my grade was a B (whew), but it scarred me for a long time–because I felt insecure in a numbers world and at some level I thought that I probably did deserve that lower grade.<\/p>\n

My undergraduate degree in Biology required two years of Calculus, which was torture for me, as had been my years of high school math (the only exception: geometry–I loved writing proofs).\u00a0 I suspect that my aversion to math was a combination of two things:\u00a0 sheer hatred for rote homework problems and some lingering cognitive issues caused from the chemotherapy that I’d undergone just prior to high school.\u00a0 To pass my Calculus courses I ended up memorizing the problem sets for the exams, because I could not grasp the concepts.\u00a0 I’m still disappointed in myself for doing that, but I was so desperate to graduate…<\/p>\n

And then I didn’t think much about math again (other than simple household calculations like doubling recipes and measuring fabric) for more than a decade.<\/p>\n

And then I took the GRE for graduate school, without even reviewing the math portion, knowing that it didn’t “count” for someone entering the Humanities.<\/p>\n

And then I got a higher score on the math section of the GRE than I did on the Verbal section.<\/p>\n

Huh?<\/p>\n

And since then I’ve come to realize the elegance of numbers, and to learn that I’m actually pretty good at math.\u00a0 For me, quantitative data is slowly edging out my attraction to qualitative, which is certainly why I’m so drawn to the digital humanities, which tend to combine both approaches to research questions.\u00a0 Numbers, number patterns, number visualizations…they all fascinate me (and statistics–I love statistics!).\u00a0 They aren’t a chore, they don’t swim around meaninglessly in my mind.\u00a0 Instead, they have a beauty and an order that is quite appealing.<\/p>\n

And…I suspect that if I were to do things over and be back in my undergraduate years again, that those Calculus classes would hold attraction for me.\u00a0 Perhaps they would even be fun.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a recent casual conversation with a friend, when I expressed interest in studying a particular topic, his reply was: “But there’s a lot of math…” And I realized that this reply was intended to tell me (a hapless not-mathematical female) that this would not be a topic of interest to me.\u00a0 It’s quite possible […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deep-thoughts","category-school"],"yoast_head":"\nbut there's a lot of math... - PilgrimSteps<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/2014\/02\/27\/theres-lot-math\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"but there's a lot of math... - PilgrimSteps\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In a recent casual conversation with a friend, when I expressed interest in studying a particular topic, his reply was: “But there’s a lot of math…” And I realized that this reply was intended to tell me (a hapless not-mathematical female) that this would not be a topic of interest to me.\u00a0 It’s quite possible […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/2014\/02\/27\/theres-lot-math\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"PilgrimSteps\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-02-27T20:15:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-02-27T21:33:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Screen-shot-2014-02-27-at-11.37.56-AM.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"janaremy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"janaremy\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.janaremy.com\\\/pilgrimsteps\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/27\\\/theres-lot-math\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.janaremy.com\\\/pilgrimsteps\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/27\\\/theres-lot-math\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"janaremy\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.janaremy.com\\\/pilgrimsteps\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7a8c15ed9bb0ca4a587579ee0ac3b05d\"},\"headline\":\"but there’s a lot of math…\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-02-27T20:15:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-02-27T21:33:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.janaremy.com\\\/pilgrimsteps\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/27\\\/theres-lot-math\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":458,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.janaremy.com\\\/pilgrimsteps\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/27\\\/theres-lot-math\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.janaremy.com\\\/pilgrimsteps\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/Screen-shot-2014-02-27-at-11.37.56-AM.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"deep thoughts\",\"school\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.janaremy.com\\\/pilgrimsteps\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/27\\\/theres-lot-math\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.janaremy.com\\\/pilgrimsteps\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/27\\\/theres-lot-math\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.janaremy.com\\\/pilgrimsteps\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/27\\\/theres-lot-math\\\/\",\"name\":\"but there's a lot of math... - PilgrimSteps\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.janaremy.com\\\/pilgrimsteps\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.janaremy.com\\\/pilgrimsteps\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/27\\\/theres-lot-math\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.janaremy.com\\\/pilgrimsteps\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/27\\\/theres-lot-math\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.janaremy.com\\\/pilgrimsteps\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/Screen-shot-2014-02-27-at-11.37.56-AM.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-02-27T20:15:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-02-27T21:33:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.janaremy.com\\\/pilgrimsteps\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7a8c15ed9bb0ca4a587579ee0ac3b05d\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.janaremy.com\\\/pilgrimsteps\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/27\\\/theres-lot-math\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.janaremy.com\\\/pilgrimsteps\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/27\\\/theres-lot-math\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.janaremy.com\\\/pilgrimsteps\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/Screen-shot-2014-02-27-at-11.37.56-AM.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.janaremy.com\\\/pilgrimsteps\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/02\\\/Screen-shot-2014-02-27-at-11.37.56-AM.png\",\"width\":896,\"height\":359},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.janaremy.com\\\/pilgrimsteps\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.janaremy.com\\\/pilgrimsteps\\\/\",\"name\":\"PilgrimSteps\",\"description\":\"just one step at a time...\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.janaremy.com\\\/pilgrimsteps\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.janaremy.com\\\/pilgrimsteps\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7a8c15ed9bb0ca4a587579ee0ac3b05d\",\"name\":\"janaremy\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d3c4beab1cb0718e14e1139dfa1e38f218ccb6ebc3a0cb16234b5650e390c8c0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d3c4beab1cb0718e14e1139dfa1e38f218ccb6ebc3a0cb16234b5650e390c8c0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d3c4beab1cb0718e14e1139dfa1e38f218ccb6ebc3a0cb16234b5650e390c8c0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"janaremy\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.janaremy.com\\\/pilgrimsteps\\\/author\\\/janaremy\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"but there's a lot of math... - PilgrimSteps","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/2014\/02\/27\/theres-lot-math\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"but there's a lot of math... - PilgrimSteps","og_description":"In a recent casual conversation with a friend, when I expressed interest in studying a particular topic, his reply was: “But there’s a lot of math…” And I realized that this reply was intended to tell me (a hapless not-mathematical female) that this would not be a topic of interest to me.\u00a0 It’s quite possible […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/2014\/02\/27\/theres-lot-math\/","og_site_name":"PilgrimSteps","article_published_time":"2014-02-27T20:15:12+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-02-27T21:33:55+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Screen-shot-2014-02-27-at-11.37.56-AM.png","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"janaremy","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"janaremy","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/2014\/02\/27\/theres-lot-math\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/2014\/02\/27\/theres-lot-math\/"},"author":{"name":"janaremy","@id":"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/#\/schema\/person\/7a8c15ed9bb0ca4a587579ee0ac3b05d"},"headline":"but there’s a lot of math…","datePublished":"2014-02-27T20:15:12+00:00","dateModified":"2014-02-27T21:33:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/2014\/02\/27\/theres-lot-math\/"},"wordCount":458,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/2014\/02\/27\/theres-lot-math\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Screen-shot-2014-02-27-at-11.37.56-AM.png","articleSection":["deep thoughts","school"],"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/2014\/02\/27\/theres-lot-math\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/2014\/02\/27\/theres-lot-math\/","url":"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/2014\/02\/27\/theres-lot-math\/","name":"but there's a lot of math... - PilgrimSteps","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/2014\/02\/27\/theres-lot-math\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/2014\/02\/27\/theres-lot-math\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Screen-shot-2014-02-27-at-11.37.56-AM.png","datePublished":"2014-02-27T20:15:12+00:00","dateModified":"2014-02-27T21:33:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/#\/schema\/person\/7a8c15ed9bb0ca4a587579ee0ac3b05d"},"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/2014\/02\/27\/theres-lot-math\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/2014\/02\/27\/theres-lot-math\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Screen-shot-2014-02-27-at-11.37.56-AM.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Screen-shot-2014-02-27-at-11.37.56-AM.png","width":896,"height":359},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/","name":"PilgrimSteps","description":"just one step at a time...","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/#\/schema\/person\/7a8c15ed9bb0ca4a587579ee0ac3b05d","name":"janaremy","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d3c4beab1cb0718e14e1139dfa1e38f218ccb6ebc3a0cb16234b5650e390c8c0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d3c4beab1cb0718e14e1139dfa1e38f218ccb6ebc3a0cb16234b5650e390c8c0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d3c4beab1cb0718e14e1139dfa1e38f218ccb6ebc3a0cb16234b5650e390c8c0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"janaremy"},"url":"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/author\/janaremy\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11028"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11039,"href":"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11028\/revisions\/11039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.janaremy.com\/pilgrimsteps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}