I just remembered this phone conversation I overheard while on the greyhound, on my way back from Waterloo this past weekend. This girl was on the phone with her friend, and asked what the result was for the multiplication of two (somewhat) large numbers. I can’t recall what the numbers where, but I think one was three digits and the other was two digits. Her friend, I assume, gave some answer — whether right or wrong, I don’t know — which then the girls promptly exclaimed, “Wow, how did you know that? You should be a mathematician!”
Say, what? Mathema… what? Since when does simple multiplication qualifies someone as a mathematician. Maybe the ability to do multiplications in your head quickly might impress a few people here and there, but that’s not real math. Don’t equate the beauty of mathematics, which require human creativity and intelligence, with something I can program a robot to do. Oh, the blaspheme!
