Monday, August 15, 2011

Fun With Numbers

I am not a numbers person. That might surprise you if you know that in another life I may have majored in accounting and spent over ten years working in the field of taxation. That life seems so long ago; I am starting to doubt it actually happened. If I did do all that, I must have faked my way through the numbers aspect of it all and skated by on my good looks and smashing personality.

Looks and personality aside, I am not a numbers person in the sense of being good at or enjoying math or its relatives. But I do like coincidences and puzzles and interesting situations that arise involving numbers. I am not sure where I am going with this. And at the end you may likely agree that I am not a numbers person and that I should never have done this in the first place. But let's just see if I can explain what I am talking about.

This year is 2011.
This year I am 44 years old.
I have a son who is 11.
My father is 77 years old.
The difference in my age and my dad's is 33.
The difference in my dad's age and my son's is 66.
This occurrence of repeated double digits intrigues me.

There is more.

This year, I am exactly 4 times older than my 11 year old.
Based on my new found knowledge of algebra (thank you 11 year old son), I can say that ratio will never happen again with regard to our ages.

And there is still more.
My sons are 3 years apart in age.
(That may be like one of those unrelated facts included in word problems merely to confuse you; I'm really not sure.)
In 4 years, I will be exactly 4 times older than my now 8 year old son.
That ratio will never happen again with regard to our ages.

So, what does all this mean and does anybody really care? First of all, I have no idea what it means but I suspect it means nothing. These are just the trivial thoughts that came to mind as we made the 9-hour trip back from Tennessee a few weeks ago. I was contemplating who and where I was in the grand scheme of life and this is what I came up with. Math tricks. Uugh.

Second of all, I don't know if anyone really cares. But I do know at least 2 math majors who read my blog and they might actually think this all a little bit interesting. They might even leave some sensible answers in my comments (if they can stop laughing at me long enough to type).

As for the rest of you, I suspect you either:

a) are trying this with your own age,
b) stopped reading a few paragraphs ago and have already swallowed two Advil caplets, or
c) are sure now that the stress has become too much for me and are wondering if it is too late to call and check on me.

If you chose c), I am fine. Really.

5 comments:

  1. Well, the fact that the differences in ages are double digits (33 and 66 -- and hey, one is twice the other!) means that the concurrence of double digits in ages between the three of you will happen every 11 years...

    :) Thanks for the smile!

    And I LOVE that calculator!

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  2. Well, I think you are most definitely more of a number person than you think! And if not a number person at least quite intelligent! So interesting. Love your blog and am following along! Please join me at my history blog - right now I am going around the world in search of churches dedicate to St. Nicholas...
    Blessings!
    Ann

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  3. HA! It's great! I've had similar with zeros.
    In 2000 I was 40 on the 20th day of the 10th month~ and I was born in 1960.

    In 2010 I turned 50 again on the 20th day of the 10th month.

    It must mean something...but I dunno what!

    I think it's cool there are all these same double digits for you this year..... Maybe it means you will win the lottery!!
    And hey, why not you?
    So go play these lucky numbers!!
    LOL
    Sheil

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  4. I KNEW Eric would have something to say! (Smarty-Pants!)
    My eyes glazed over as soon as you started talking numbers...they don't mean a thing to me!

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  5. I enjoy numbers like that! So cool that you thought about it! Thanks for the fun!

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Whaddaya think about that?