Math is a Lazy Man’s Game
That’s right, you heard it here! Sometimes you have to be lazy to succeed in math.The common perception out there is that the harder you work at math, the better you will get at it. However, my experience with learning math and teaching students tells me that it’s not always the case. It’s almost if you need a lazy bone sometimes to help you. Let me tell you what I mean. Every problem that you encounter in math has a wealth of information. You may need to learn 1,2,3,4 maybe more lessons from each problem before you squeeze all the juice out of it. So, how is this being lazy? If you are not “lazy” you may rush to do as many problems as possible and not learn all that you can from each problem. On the other hand, if you practice your lazy skill, you stay with one problem for a long time and look at it from different angles and learn multiple lessons from it. I guarantee it that you will learn a particular topic faster if you spend more time on each problem and doing less problems than spending less time on each problem and doing more problems. Next time you see a problem, slow down! Take it by the hand and romance it and give it all the time that it needs!
Lets take adding fractions for example. The “not lazy” approach is to do the multiplication first to get the common denominator. However, with hairy fractions, all that multiplication is going to drive you crazy! A lazy approach to the problem is to look at the problem for a while and think to you how to make it easier. It is then that you come up with the idea of dividing first to reduce the fraction before multiplying so that it’s easier to deal with.
I have the suspicion that the great scientists and mathematicians are truly lazy at heart and are always trying to make their problems easier, and when they succeed is when the breakthroughs happen. So go ahead, give it a try and see if it works!
Happy Zen Math!!
(c) Feenix Pan, 2007. All Rights Reserved.