Published: December 16, 2007 10:11 am         

Here’s how you can deal with numeric fog

It’s a condition where for many, numbers don’t seem to register.

Making numbers less scary

A few weeks ago, a guest writer in the Cumberland Times-News detailed her difficulties with math.

She recounted that in a math test, she was so jangled by the first problem that she couldn’t handle the rest of the test and wanted to leave. Even in college one frequently hears from students who assert that they can’t do math and often pick their courses and even their majors to avoid math.

In my basic science course that I teach each semester, I encounter this “can’t do” outlook among some students. I try to introduce the formulae in a playful way and do examples on the board. Then it’s time for the students to do similar problem using different numbers.

For instance, a key electrical formula is Power = Voltage * Current. Power is measured in watts and it’s value is printed on the round end of most light bulbs.

Most of us know that the higher wattage light bulbs (floodlights) are brighter; medium wattage light bulbs are best for desk lamps. Voltage corresponds to electrical pressure. If the voltage is too low, not enough electricity flows through the bulb to light it.

Current is the rate of electrical charge flow. So a powerful light bulb will have a lot of voltage and current. A night light will have little power (a few watts) so its product of voltage and current will be small. To remember this formula, P = V * C, I use the mnemonic Plush Velvet Cushions.

To get one of these numbers in terms of the other two numbers, draw a circle with a horizontal line cutting the circle into an upper half and a lower half. Write the letter P in the top half. Then divide the bottom half of the circle into quarter circles. On the left quarter, write V and in the other quarter, write C.

If you want to find P, cover up P with your fingers and you’ll see V and C, which you multiply to get V. If you want to find V, cover up V and you’ll see P over C, the operation needed to find V. If you want to find C, cover up C and you’ll see P over V, the operation needed to find C. This approach also works with Ohm’s Rule (Voltage = Current * Resistance), the wave equation (Velocity = Frequency * Wavelength) and the Distance equation (Distance = Speed * Time).

But a more profound difficulty is the numeric “fog,” where for many, numbers don’t seem to register. Here I try to point out how these numbers can relate to the learner. For instance, the speed of light is 300 million meters/second. I point out to my students that this number is roughly the U.S. population in people.

A meter/second is a slow walk. A billion is a thousand million. You breathe about a billion times in a lifetime. Most readers are tax payers. Our U.S. Government spends a billion dollars every 3 hours and 15 minutes. This spending goes on, day after day, month after month, to the tune of $2,700 billion a year. Our national debt is now over $9 trillion. A trillion is a million times a million. The interest paid on the national debt is $450 billion a year. Every 20 hours, our government must pay a billion dollars just on interest on our national debt!

A good paperback book on a number of math topics that’s widely available is

“Mathematics Made Simple” (sixth edition) by Thomas Cusick, Broadway Books. Get a basic scientific calculator and work through their examples and problems.

Last programs and full moon ahead

Today we have our last Frostburg State Planetarium Presentations and Exploratorium tours for 2007. Both of these activities are free and open to the general public.

Our planetarium presentations are at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m., lasting about 50 minutes. The main feature is “The Heavenly Connection,” covering the relation of the three major western faiths (Christianity, Judaism and Islam) to the heavens. Also included is SkyWatch, an informal tour of the current evening sky sights.

The Planetarium is just off the front lobby of Tawes Hall in the middle of the FSU campus. If you have attended any of the fine performances (theater or music) at the Performing Arts Center, just park near that building and walk around it on the right and you’ll first see the Compton Science Center on right and farther down the street, Tawes Hall to the left. Just walk up the entrance steps and the Planetarium is just past the front doors on the left.

The Exploratorium is in the lower part of the Compton Science Center, just across the street from Tawes Hall. Our tours of the Exploratorium start at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. Within the Exploratorium is the Cavallaro Collection, accumulated over five decades by Dr. Joseph Cavallaro, a University of Maryland Medical School graduate.

There you will see some incredible full bodied specimens including a Plains Zebra, a Polar Bear, a Kodiak Brown Bear, a Lynx, two Lions, two Leopards, two Baboons, two Buffaloes, and many impressive antelopes and grazing animals. Also featured is a great collection of satellite images of Earth called “Earth As Art.” Your Exploratorium tour can last from a few minutes up to 45 minutes.

This week the evening moon grows from half full (tonight) to full (next Sunday). The moon’s craters are at their best the next few nights. Along the left straight edge of the moon, the sun is rising, lighting up the crater rims. The yellowish planet Mars shines brightly in the eastern sky. Next Sunday evening, the full moon will appear close to Mars.

For a free 2008 Celestial Highlight, you can call Bob Doyle at (301) 687-7799 or email him at rdoyle@frostburg.edu or visit our Planetarium Web site at www.frostburg.edu/planetarium. For a paper copy sent to you through the mail, please state your name and mailing address.