Good Uses For Math And Its Notebooks

October 20th, 2008 at 10:38 pm by --KALEB NATION--

As many of you know, I harbor a deep loathing towards all things mathematical — excluding such things as addition when it comes to paychecks — and have never been good at it past algebra II. I simply do not comprehend how a writer will ever use these things except perhaps under the following circumstances:

1. Your editor has published fifteen books by you and knows three of them are western space odysseys. However, he needs to figure up how many are not western space odysseys. Whatever shall we do? Answer: 3 + X = 15

2. You have sold fifteen million copies of five books about depressed spiders. You receive 10% of each book ($10 each for pity’s sake). Calculate if you dare. Answer: 15,000,000(10)(.10)=Royalty

3. The only people who read your latest tome was your grandmother and Great-Aunt Toots. If your publishers printed 800,000 copies at $8.95 per printing, how much does the entire corporation hate you? Answer: loads.

4. You are a bad writer and earn two nickels. You are forced to become a mathematician and learn math. Answer: instead, become an orc.

These are but a few examples in which, yes, I do admit, I will require math.

It is thus that I am nearly convinced to switching to an English major next year instead of my current business major (one of many reasons — I’m not simply running from the horrors created by numbers). I understand that yes, Archimedes, Lazare Carnot, and Konrad Zuse may have been wonderful thinkers. But I simply have no use for functions that take 15 minutes to do and an entire whiteboard to explain one problem.

Academic achievement can be reached with the help of indiana wesleyan university.

If my constant ranting isn’t proof enough, these photographs should convince you what I am actually made for. These are of my real math notebooks that I use in class, highlighted so you can see what I am really doing on the page. Observe:

It appears in the previous one that I attempted to start on one of those awful number problems from Mordor, but then suddenly had a new idea and got distracted with plotting it out.

In this example, I got even less done. In fact, all I was able to do was print the subject and lesson number of whatever was being taught that day. I did, however, solve a big plot snag that was causing me headache.

This page has almost equal parts math and Other Things, a rare occurrence. I was in class and suddenly remembered that John Green was coming near my city and I wanted to go see him.

Speaking of seeing people, I will be at the Twilight film premiere on November 17th in LA. Speaking of November 17th, I will be participating in a panel with multiple other sites and some of the Twilight cast on November 16th if you want to come out and say hi. Speaking of saying hi, browse my calendar page so you know where I am and can stalk me all the easier.



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  • Rapunzel
    I used to do that, but then I found a solution.
    You go to a shop and you spend about an hour finding your perfect notebook. It must be high quality. You never go anywhere without it. You put in it random lists, pictures, facts, quotes, mathematic problems, doodles, plot ideas, reminders, calenders, tables, profound thoughts, jokes, puns, whatever.
    LET ME MAKE THIS CLEAR - it is NOT a diary OR a journal and should not be treated as such. It works amazingly. You call it the notebook and the number one rule is that you NEVER, EVER, EVER let ANYONE read it. You can show them a specific page, but you can't just hand it to them and let them flick through it. You should always follow this rule or when you write in it you become self conscious. The notebook should always remain completely uncensored. Also, you never erase anything or rip out pages.
  • ~Tina
    Ahh Kaleb, I sympathize with you. The thing is, I hate math, but 1) my dad, mom, and younger brother love it AND are good at it 2)I hate it, but I'm always at the top of my class, so there's a plus....you should see MY math notebook...it has lots of Twilight things in it, funny enough...
  • Finch
    @Wren: Ahh! It is indeed that time of year! =D

    Math = evil.
  • Wren
    Math is fun! Well, sometimes. Writing is fun, too, but I like to know where my writing notes are, and few get put in my math homework.
    I love to write, but English homework isn't as fun as math homework because English teachers either make you write non-fiction or poetry. Those are worse than math. Math is understandable I tell you. It has rhyme and reason. Poetry doesn't (many argue otherwise), and non-fiction is (boring, yes, and structured strictly)self-explanatory.

    Give me free rein on a fiction story any day and I can do that (unless I'm in a coma).

    NaNoWriMo!!
  • HBwriter
    it's true what you said, MATH SUCKS!
    i spend math daydreaming about multiple story i deas i have, but i have to pay attention or else i'll never graduate from high school. Bah!
    WILL I EVER ESCAPE THESE NUMBERS?!?! * Invision crazy teen girl going mad, oh no guys in white jackets!
  • Math = not my friend either!

    Glad I am not taking a math this year. I am going to be putting it off until it is absolutely necessary that I take it.
  • Pam
    That's funny because that's what my notebooks look like. Accounting and math have more writing notes than actual notes. I think that all that is needed is the basic math: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. I am a business major and should be studying for that math exam tonight.
  • oh well...all my notebooks have doodles in it.

    I loathe math...I dont even compute what's on my paycheck...argh! :D
  • Jessie
    Aah. John Green. Yay. I went to one of his conventions just on Wednesday. It was awesome.

    ANDANDAND...
    my notebooks are like that too... hmm.
  • Caitie
    What?? you get to see john green? man i wish i was....

    NERDFIGHTERS!! haha

    and also, my math notes resemble yours, except mine are with doodles... and my friends notes to me...
  • Katie ~
    Ah yes. Math class. A terrible time of the day. I don't actually have any doodles in my math books because in order to pass calculus, I have to pay attention. Otherwise I'm pretty sure I'd fail. The stuff is hard! It is very boring though. How can we be expected to know this stuff when we'll never use it later in life? I know I don't want to be a math teacher, so I shouldn't have to take the really hard math. It's pointless. Alas, the schooling system in America forces us to learn it, so learn it we must.

    Doesn't mean we gotta like it. ;)

    And if doodling helps get you through the class, then more power to ya.
  • Megan
    Aaaah, I see your problem.
    What you need, Kaleb Nation, is a resident mathematician. Like Daniel Biss.
    Maybe you could pull off getting Daniel's phone number from John by using your status as an author..

    Seriously, though, I would LOVE to have a resident mathematician. Life would be easy if I had Daniel Biss doing my AP math homework..
    *drifts into homeworkless dreams of mathematicians*

    On another note, have you read Paper Towns? Probably not, but still. I just got it today, and I am SO EXCITED.
    I got Happy Margo. :D
  • elizabeth
    haha, my math note book is filled with little doodles of cows and pigs and penguins. it's good for stuff like that.
  • Annie
    haha i do the same thing in my geometry class but i might just read or i'll start doodling..... unfortunately, that makes it a little harder to pass the class, which i need to do to graduate high school.
  • That's kinda funny... all my OTHER notebooks have random mathematical equations in them. I'm not even joking. :-P Of course, they also have many, many random drawings.
  • The Blondie Who Knows Your Edi
    John Green, whoo-hooooooo!!!!!!! I'M SEEING HIM ON THE 30TH!!!!!!!!!!
    All writers hate math, at least, the ones I know. John Green is made of awesome, I love Paper Towns. Okay, I'm getting off topic. But anyways, you make blogs about math classes funny.
  • Oh, PS: Congrats on getting the $$ to go to the premiere! *swallows insane jealousy* I hope you have a fantastic time, and take lots of pictures!!
  • I'm an Early Childhood Education major, which means that I don't need to know much beyond multiplication and division...but they have new ways of teaching math now that make my head hurt. Yesterday I was helping in a third-grade classroom and I couldn't even help the kids with their subtraction problems BECAUSE THEY DON'T TEACH NORMAL SUBTRACTION ANYMORE. They also don't teach kids to think for themselves. But I digress.

    I always doodle in the margins of my notebooks! And, for some reason, in science class I come up with stupid puns for everything my teachers say. I'm sure my Environmental Biology notebook has at least one Twilight reference in there somewhere, from when we were learning about the different climate zones in the US.
  • Kathy
    I actually like math and for some reason did math league in high school; however, I am in strong support of doing something besides math in college.

    You might want to check if your school has a Humanities or Comparative Literature degree--it would be similar to English, but with a broader emphasis on culture, which is a great source of ideas for writing.
  • SnowWight
    Yeah, when I get an idea for my book, no paper-like material is safe. lol. Receipts, napkins, syllabi...

    I'm planning to go to Twilight Live! I am so excited--you'll have to excuse me while I go jump up and down on my bed ;).
  • Sarah
    I'm the same way — I hate math and try to make the period better by writing when I should be doing math. But really, math beyond the basics strikes me as pointless — unless, of course, you want to be a mathematician...
    But writing does make the world a better place. Along with Less Than Jake. :)
  • amelia
    Oh my god, you're hilarious. My math books look exactly like yours :)
  • Stephanie
    ...That looks like all of my notebooks. I try to go to the back of my notebook, though. I HATE MATH. I threw the biggest fit over why on EARTH I needed to know what inversely and directly blah, blah, blah... I stinking hate math with a passion.

    But yeah... I actually try to learn math, but after the teacher gets up to the board, all I hear is, "756542364654665454265487253. Get it?" I feel like throwing my head against a brick wall in that class.
  • YouKnowWho
    Just about as useful as trying to take math notes on a laptop.
  • Kim
    lol that's funny! Both my math and chemistry notebooks look like that. I am always writing or drawing instead of taking real notes. I have to agree with your opinions on math,I don't think I'll be using it much either. Funny post!!
  • Bailey
    Haha that's really funny, but that's also the way of the writer. That's kind of how some of my notebooks looked last year. Nothing but writing and only some stuff actually relating to school. The math stuff relevant in your life made me laugh. You're funny.
  • Carol
    WOW. I was laughing so hard when I found numbers in the notebook. I'm a business major too, so I'm kinda glad math is my thing. That's so awesome that you're going to be at the premier. Take lots and lots an lots of pictures.
  • All my college books used to be filled with sketches and drawings on the margins... I wonder what could have that meant? XD
    I might have as well let those poor books be and get myself a sketchbook, I guess ;)
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