Dyscalculia

All my kids hate math. I am not sure why. I do not think it is because it is particularly difficult for them, though that may be part of the problem. It might be a reaction against their grumpy father who likes to think he is pretty good with math. Both my boys elected to take Statistics instead of Calculus in High School. To my way of thinking, Calculus is what you need if you are going to do real work, like engineering. Statistics is for people who are going to do pretend work, like business administration. Odd how that worked out.

Then I run across this post by Stu Savory [gone 404], which contains this link to a story about dyscalculia. I would have spelled it without the "i": dyscalcula. It would have been easier to pronounce. The way I figure it, dyscalculia has five syllables, and dyscalcula would have four. Four syllables is plenty. Five and you are just showing off.

Dyscalculia is similar to dyslexia, except that it affects a persons ability to deal with numbers instead of words. It also seems to affect a similar percentage of the population as dyslexia: about 5%.

In regards to Billy Connolly's video rant against math (which Stu posted on his blog). Pbbbbbt! I understand that some people have difficulty with math, and I'm sorry, but I LIKE math, and I use it for something everyday. Mr. Connolly may have some natural talent that makes him a good actor and comedian, but that does not make his opinion on anything else worth a hoot.

Update December 2017 deprecated link to Stu.