please excuse my dear aunt sally.

for the first time in a long time, today i have felt some appreciation for algebra. sure, i've had it prepare me for higher-level math courses and concepts. yes, it makes you sound clever when you can use "logarithmic" as an adjective outside of a classroom or textbook(though i've only heard a choice few times that this has happened). however, for the skull-stretching hours i've invested in the past, today was one of the only times i thought to myself, "wow, it's a good thing i took algebra."

we're currently studying probabilities in my psychological statistics, and it incorporates (dare i say, relies on) algebra. while trying to discover the likelihood of sarah and her two best friends getting into her school of choice with 10 students applying (each student having an equal chance to be accepted, of course), i wound up assisting two of my own classmates with the problem and ending my explanation with, "i'm glad i took algebra last semester."
this of course was a lie. i don't feel all that guilty, though, as it was said in a moment of passion without me cognitively processing it first.

who knows, maybe i meant to say that i was glad i was in algebra for the last two class periods where we learned probabilities. maybe i was just so overcome by my mathematical explanations and the satisfaction of being able to actually explain a algebraic concept that my left brain temporarily held the reigns. whatever the reason, it is satisfying to think that--even for a second--i appreciated having learned upper level math. in some way or another.

thank goodness for people who actually enjoy math, who daily can tell themselves, "i am simply thrilled about having studied math so thoroughly." it means that i will never need to.
to a certain degree.