Wednesday, December 18, 2013

For the Love of Math

     I love Math! It's so black and white. You apply your formula and you get an answer. It is neat & tidy... I don't like spelling. There are all these hard to remember rules and then these words that are "rule breakers." (Macy and I put the rule breaking words in jail - that is fun.) Spelling is not neat & tidy.
     I don't think I was always great at math. I remember when I was in 7th grade in California. I was devastated because I didn't get into the advanced math class. My math teacher did not think I could handle the more difficult math and I was mad at him because what did he know about what I could handle... he couldn't even remember my name (it was a huge school). It was at that time someone told me that girls are supposed to be better at English and boys are supposed to be better at math. I exclaimed "What? Who believes that? That is utter ridiculousness!" To this day I hate generalizations like that.
     Really, it was high school math I enjoyed most. Algebra is just so much fun. Learning geometry was like the sky opened up and the sun shined down on me (I really loved geometry). My children tell me that they do not like math. (They are still young. I'm holding onto a small tiny bit of hope.) They tell me they don't see math in their head like I do. Perhaps they are right. God created us all unique. We are all wired differently. "I'm cool with that kiddos." (They are great spellers - so that just proves it right there.)
     Did you know that God loves math? Alright, I hear you laughing... but it's true. God loves math. I first figured this out when I studied Daniel with CBS. For a math geek the end of chapter 9 in Daniel is just about the most fun ever. Dan 9:25 says "Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven 'sevens,' and sixty-two 'sevens.'..." There are a few decrees (this part is for the history people): Ezra 1:1-4 > Cyrus says rebuild temple (538 BC), Ezra 6:1, 6-12 > Darius I confirms Cyrus' decree (520 BC), Ezra 7:12-26 > Artaxerxes says go worship (457 BC), Nehemiah 2:1-9 > Artaxerxes grants request to rebuild temple (444 or 445 BC). So, I'll pick 444 BC to start counting. Now I convert the word problem to numbers (just like middle school math). Seven 'sevens' and sixty-two 'sevens' sounds like 7 x 7 + 62 x 7. Math! I get 483. So 483 years from 444 BC... only... bible years are different from modern years. There were 360 days in a bible year and now there are 365 days in a year. Hmmm. Let's convert the 483 years into days by multiplying by 360 (1 bible year = 360 days). I get 173880 days from 444 BC... well we can now convert days into modern years by dividing by 365. I get 476.4 years from 444 BC is AD 32. Well what happened in approximately 32 AD? Jesus and the empty tomb!
     And there you have my favorite Bible math! (And yes, I know, I'm not normal)

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