maths

When my female owner was small, she went for a family day outing with her mother and her colleagues. She was looking at some plants along the road (must have been a trip to some nature reserve or something) when an auntie came along to tell her more about the plants. She asked the auntie how she knew so much about the plants. The auntie said that when people grow up, they would specialise in one area (presumably she meant people would pursue a tertiary education in a selected field). My female owner then asked her (Singaporean mentality acting up here), how would she know which area she would specialise, would someone tell her?

About ten years later, my female owner decided that her “specialised field” would be psychology. Ten years after that ten years, she is still trying to qualify her specialisation. If my female owner did not do her last minute switch to psychology just before she entered university, she would have been a teacher. A mathematics teacher, to be exact.

She loves mathematics, to the point that she took both Mathematics C and Further Mathematics in Junior College. People thought she was mad. She even took Mathematics in first year of university and ended up aceing her modules coz they were easier than F. Maths. Can you beat that? She was finally not failing her tests. Anyway, she gave up Mathematics and Sociology in single-minded pursuit of psychology.

Throughout university, she tutored school-going students, and her pet subject was mathematics of course. She also fantasised that one day, when she got married and had children of her own, she would give up full-time work and be a freelance home-based tutor. This would enable her to be a stay-home mum and yet, be meaningfully occupied. Yah, that was her. She had simple aspirations.

Anyway, I'm digressing. The reason why I started talking about Maths is because the local news recently reported that parents were unhappy about the exceptionally difficult Mathematics papers for PSLE students. They even published one complicated question in the news. My female owner had a mini kick out of solving it. It is easier than it looks but for a 12 y.o., it might have been daunting.

Jim bought some chocolates and gave half of it to Ken. Ken bought some sweets and gave half of it to Jim. Jim ate 12 sweets and Ken ate 18 chocolates. The ratio of Jim’s sweets to chocolates became 1:7 and the ratio of Ken’s sweets to chocolates became 1:4. How many sweets did Ken buy?

Ah, the good old days when answers are clearly right or wrong. Unlike now, where her chosen field is largely subjective, shrouded with shades of greyish ethical, moral and spiritual considerations.