Tag: dailyprompt-1890

An old prompt, I chose mathematics

Posted on Posted in UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , , , 9 Comments

What’s something most people don’t understand?

I’ve been wondering what to write for this prompt, and I realise that apart from basic addition (arithmetic) people struggle with calculations and formulas.

I was dropped down into the CSE group when I did maths at school. In the end that did me a favour. The exam was like a normal lesson and I got an o level pass.

I just about understood quadratic equations but never liked having to go through the stages of the calculations. I could follow logarithms, but never did calculus. My understanding of sine, co-sine and tangents left something to be desired.

But at least I understood numbers. There is something like dyslexia that some people have, it’s called dyscalculia. As people become aware of it, it might explain why they struggle.

Astronomy

Posted on Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

What’s something most people don’t understand?

There’s a lot about astronomy I don’t know. There is a branch of science known as astrophysics for instance that is about light speed and gravity, red shifts, dark matter, black holes, dark energy, pulsars , neutron stars, the list is enormous.

I do try and understand some of this, there has been a TV programme on the BBC for decades called the Sky at Night. I’ve watched it since childhood. That sparked an interest and we did have a cheap  telescope for a while. I’ve seen Jupiters moons through it and Saturns rings.

I’m amazed though at web pages about flat earth believers. Some of the things that they post are very odd and nonsensical. I don’t understand how incredibly silly some of them are! No offence meant but they worry me.

Science

Posted on Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

What’s something most people don’t understand?

Science is hard, it is very difficult to understand or often to explain. I think the world is split into people who get science and those that do not.

I don’t know if you have to have a particular brain? I found science hard, and being a girl didn’t push myself forward in classes. The boys always had their hands up shouting me sir, me! Answering the teachers questions.

And yet I eventually found I loved science. I used to watch a BBC programme called Horizon which had a great many subjects from Chemistry to Astrobiology, to the Big Bang as subjects of hourly  shows. Suddenly my interest was piqued. I started to understand things and got more aware of science and it’s ramifications.

I also loved the Sky at Night, a monthly astronomy programme, it’s only short, 20 minutes, but really interesting. And then children’s programmes used to be informative, including the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures. I remember seeing one about magnetic levitation of trains, it was a lecture by Professor Eric Laithwaite. Wonderful.

So my take from this is that you might not like science, but give it a chance, it helps you understand the world..