Math(s)

 I think nature may have been my best teacher.   To be fair to all my human teachers, I have had some excellent ones, as well as mentors in the teaching profession and in life.  However, none of them is quite as extraordinary as the natural world around us.  If one pays attention, like Davinci, there's not much it cannot teach us or inspire us to do.  If one examines root structures, for instance, while weeding the garden, we might start to notice similarities between those and our lung brachii.  Fish and bugs have curves that are adapted to their survival, but also turn out to be great for hydrodynamics and all sorts of other things.   When I learn things from nature, the challenge is to describe these things to others, or use them for something that makes sense in my life.  But if we watch, and listen, we can learn.  

 Good morning, I've been a Math Teacher for the last 18 years.  I liken that to selling a product that no one seems to want to people that can't afford NOT to have it.  We live in a society where not having math knowledge just gets you taken advantage of.  If you don't understand compound interest, credit card companies will be all too willing to give you a free card in college at 0% and then change the interest rate to 22% after a few months.  This works for cell phone companies, mortgages, bank accounts, investments, financial advisors, car loans and a host of other things I didn't think to mention.  Knowing the math can keep you out of those scenarios, and allow you to argue with the "final boss" of a car dealership, the finance guy.   In addition, we are bombarded with information and graphics that can easily lie to us with statistics if we don't do our fact checking.  But how can you determine if they are making valid claims if you don't understan