Math anxiety

[M1 Abrams]

(Note: Home on the farm, with melon plants in the field, I now have to do nightly scouting to try and keep nearby deer from eating too much of the crop. I blame sleep deprivation for this post and throw myself on the mercy of the court.)

On a recent visit to the area around Evans Bridge, out of nowhere, I was faced with a most unexpected Pine Barrens challenge -- algebra.

Tree roots near Evans Bridge, May 2023. Y equals ?


What's a partial equation doing here, of all places? Well, yours truly isn't one to walk away from a challenge. I looked for something handy to solve for Y. I came across this nearby patch of flowers, which if you squint a little vaguely resembles an X.

Small yellow flowers near Evans Bridge, May 2023. Y=X?


Y=X...well, that's a simple equation, but we're not talking about one of those fancy city equations. All seemed well, until the realization came to me:

You are dealing with mathematical roots.
​

So what do I do now?? Is it the square root of Y that equals X? Who says that it's a square root? The equals sign looks more like a square root than the Y does. In that case, though, it would need another pair of perpendicular roots, and it would probably end up being more like a rectangle than a square.

Geometry now, on top of this cursed algebra?? Make it stop! MAKE IT STOP!!

I never walk away from a challenge. Instead, I got in my car and drove away from it at an excessive rate of speed. Somehow, I made it up the road to Parker Preserve in one piece. I started counting my lucky stars. Then I stopped and slapped myself for doing more math.

 

[Teegate]

A great post!

 

[NJChileHead]

I started counting my lucky stars.

You got some astronomy in there too!

Seriously, love this post, and we need more levity like this from time to time! Keep it coming!

 

[M1 Abrams]

Thanks NJChileHead! Funny you brought up astronomy...when making the original post, feared that folks would tell me I pulled it from the vicinity of the seventh planet from the sun.

 

[M1 Abrams]

I can't just make an awful Uranus joke and not touch on the question of levity you brought up, NJChileHead. I was very hesitant to make the original post. While there's generally lots of funny and friendly banter in threads, there didn't seem to be many topics that were created to be funny. As a member of only five weeks, I wasn't sure if it was appropriate for me to make such a post.

There are many, many whip smart, creative, funny, good people on NJPB that I guarantee are light years beyond me in terms of humor. (Now see what you've done, I'm stuck on astronomy.) With all of the critical and serious issues brought up here, as well as faithfully documenting in words and pictures these Pine Barrens that we love, I guess it's easy for lighter fare to get lost in the shuffle.

Being an old farmboy, though, I do have some passing familiarity with corn. There will probably be another helping of it from me sometime down the line, hopefully mixed in with some more traditional contributions.

 

[M1 Abrams]

For a more serious view of how math is written throughout the fabric of nature, may I recommend the following short (under 4 minutes) video by Cristóbal Vila, Nature by Numbers:

Way back in the mists of time, in the late 20th Century, I had a personal website that used a nautilus cross-section as its logo.

 

[M1 Abrams]

I was always taught that there was no such thing as pie in the sky. Well tonight, there was nearly pi in the sky:

View looking west from home in Tabernacle, 6/8/23.


(I know, it might just as well be an M, or a silhouette of the top of Batman, or the departed spirit of Mr. Whiskers. It's a cloud; what are you going to do? Anyway, that's what you folks get for giving me all of this kindness and positive feedback and encouragement. I hope you're satisfied! )

 

[M1 Abrams]

@NJChileHead

Hi again! Last night, I came across a post that Ben wrote in 2012 that touched on the balance between fun and serious subjects. His entire post can be read here:

Quality of Posts

All: I've recently noticed a sharp decline in the quality of posts on this site. This website is intended to be a serious resource for folks doing research on, or enjoying the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. The forums get read by folks all over, from folks in state government, to kids in school...

forums.njpinebarrens.com

These sections seemed to be the most relevant to the question of levity here:

This website is intended to be a serious resource for folks doing research on, or enjoying the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. The forums get read by folks all over, from folks in state government, to kids in school, to average every day folks. It's important to me to keep this place fun, but leaning a little closer to the scholarly side...This quality of this website is 100% dependent on the quality of the posts and the quality of the posters. I've poured my heart and soul into this place for the last 10 years. Lets make the next 10 years just as awesome.

While I've barely been here over a month, I already have a healthy loyalty toward Ben and NJPB. I don't want to do anything that would cause harm to either.

I'm not saying that one whimsical post will lead to wrack and ruin. I certainly had no intention of trying to carve out a niche here specializing in humor, though, even before reading Ben's post. (I know there are plenty of people that know me who say: "There's something funny about that guy," but that's a whole other story. ) As long as it doesn't detract from the things that make NJPB such a serious and great resource or clash with the spirit of the site, there probably wouldn't be much harm in the occasional offbeat post. With the quality of posters we have here, we start out way ahead of the game. (Yours truly will try not to drag down the average too far. )

Here's to another 10 awesome years.

 

[Boyd]

Last night, I came across a post that Ben wrote in 2012 that touched on the balance between fun and serious subjects.

Honestly, I wouldn't worry too much about any of this, you're taking Ben's post out of context. That was written in response to several threads that got out of hand with political bickering, personal attacks and other inappropriate behavior. Aside from a short time at the beginning of the pandemic when emotions were (understandably) running pretty high, we haven't had that kind of problem since then. Your posts certainly are not the sort which Ben was addressing there.

Just use your own good judgement as to what is appropriate for the forums, I'm sure that will be just fine.

 

[M1 Abrams]

Thanks very much for the clarification, Boyd. Yeah, September 2012 was getting into the political rutting season. I should have put two and two together. I'll go ahead and blame sleep deprivation for that too. (Guess the rule about no political discussions was not in force back then?)