Why Girls can’t figure out percentages? And boys don’t use commas?
I honestly don’t know what to say and where to start this subject is very complex/weird but extremely interesting at the same time. Every time a girl asks me how to calculate a percentage I get really confused and start thinking, I mean how hard can calculating percentages be. It's almost as easy as adding and subtracting maybe even easier than subtracting but that’s just me.
By the way I'm not talking about girls that don't study or don’t pay attention in class I'm talking about girls who get really good grades aka NERDS. They come to you with their calculators and look extremely disturbed. I think this problem is probably worse with nerds than other girls because nerds panic more and that makes them less able to perform even the simplest of calculations but I need to use a ‘‘normal distribution’’ to be sure.
Some scientists believe that there is a link between high Testosterone, male hormone, and mathematical ability while high levels of estrogen, female hormone, is linked with increased verbal ability. Of course I’m not trying to say that T & E are the only factors that affect brain development/ability but I think they have a role to play. I also think that gender/hormones can lead you to be more interested in certain things more than others but this a very wide topic and it is beyond the scope of our focus today.
Okay enough with boring stuff and back to the story
''Do you know how to get the percentage?''
If I got a penny for every time I was asked this question I would have a better laptop now by the way they always follow up with this question
''I forgot how to calculate it can you remind me?''
Or
''I was absent on the day we took percentages in school''
Yes I have been told this before believe or not
Okay so here is the question again:
Why Girls can’t figure out percentages? And boys don’t use commas?
Have you ever thought about it?
Do you know why?
Or do you think it isn’t true?
If you think it is (true) then have a go at the questions below
If you think it’s not true well I don’t know what to tell you honestly feel free to do whatever you want.
Do whatever you want= have a go at the questions or go to another website and come back when the topic is more interesting.
Are boys really better than girls at using numbers?
Why?
Are girls better than boys at writing?
Why?
If your answer was yes is it because girls like to ruminate and boys like to move?
Can rumination make it harder for girls to solve mathematical problems?
Do boys feel that commas restrict them?
Is that why they don’t use them?
Or is it because they don’t know how?
Is it really possible for someone to be only book-smart?
How?
Finally is it interest or natural ability that determines if you are good or not?
Do you know why I’m writing this in questions instead of sentences and/or paragraphs?
Is it because I don’t know how to use punctuation?
Or is it because I’m lazy?
Or both?
I leave you to answer these questions, if you can, and come back tomorrow, or after tomorrow, hopefully with some answers or probably even more questions…
Word count: 571
unknown-orient.livejournal.com
ReplyDeletethere is a popular joke in russia:
ReplyDeletewhat is the probability of meeting an alien in the street?
- (male) 0.000000000001%
- (female) 50% - you'll either meet him or not
girls are better then guys at writing cuz they like to talk too much...and numbers doesnt invole talking
ReplyDeleteMa7a: So you think its down to personal interest alone?
ReplyDeleteAdam: I thought I was witty but you beat me... be careful thoough girls are smart and they can hurt you
I think girls are better that guys at writing because they are better at expressing their feelings!
ReplyDeletethey are good at putting their feelings into words.
but that has nothing to do with punctuation.
and what I know is that girls don't like math!
at least I don't!
I like writing so much. but I still don't know how to figure out percentages.
that's totally true!
but I would never ask a guy about it..
Thank God for Google :D
Very well said I think you hit the nail on the head there... girls are better than boys at expressing their feelings.
ReplyDeleteI think the first statement was very clear but I'm not sure I understood the second one. Let me try and rephrase what you just wrote in my own words.
What you are saying is that if you were praparing for an important exam in any given subject, where you would need to calculate percentages, like Calculus or Statistics for example you wouldnt ask a boy about percentages an hour before a test.
I think that's what you meant and honestly I find that very intersting ;)
No, If I were going to an important exam or test at any subject where I need to know how to calculate, don't you think I should have a full background about it?
ReplyDeleteor should I wait til the last minute and ask whoever about it!!!
Nope that would never happen!
But in normal life. like if I were to go shopping and there was a discount on a blouse I like. I would totally ask about the percentage.
Better yet, I would ask how much it would be after discount . and not calculate it myself.
Why? Because I can
So what you are saying that preparation (proper preparation) would eliminate this unnecessary problem from its roots therefore you wouldn't have to deal with matters like this right?
ReplyDeleteI don’t think I agree with you there
Female students normally prepare very well for tests, almost too well in fact, because most girls care about grades. That is a very dangerous combination IMHO spending too much time preparing as well as caring too much(worrying) about grades can easily lead any good student to panic.
When you panic its easy to forget things even in areas where you normally don’t have any problems. do you agree with me here?
In these situations its very easy to find people asking other students about certain things like percentages for example much more probable.
If that didn't happen to you EVER then maybe you are just not a nerd and you do have a life outside of school and/or you are not obsessed about grades. The following statement is going to going to contradict what I just wrote though...
If you prepare well for exams and you don’t ask people about percentages then how come you don’t know how to calculate percentages?
Maybe you are a nerd and do care about grades after all you are proving that you only study for exams because you are not applying what you learned through school in everyday life.
Looking forward to your reply
Well, I'm majoring in English lit. and the last time I studied anything number related was in the 10th grade.
ReplyDeleteI guess that's my only excuse for not knowing much about numbers.
I just read more about literature and English. and I have a better view at those subjects and what's related to them
I think I understand now thanks for clearing up the confusion.
ReplyDeleteBtw you are not through yet as I have a another question for you (man I love asking questions)anyway here is the question:
Do you think normal girls who select majors away from math, like yourself, are not good at calculating percentages because they are inadequate in math from an early age, inherent weakness, while being naturally gifted in other areas or they lose their ability later because of lack of practice due to deviation away from science/math?
Or is it a combination of both, where one factor initiates the problem then leads to another factor, then you fall into a downward spiral from there on.
Alright heres what I think,,Zizou, your question is quite insignificant, I dont find the proper measurement in it, weather you are good in Mathematics or Verbal skills, take me for instance,,you asked me earlier if I could count percentages and apparently I can. but heres the ironic part; im a finance student and Numbers is my weakness point! now is that me knowing perfectly how to calculate a percentage while being deficient in mathematics?! the opposite is true, If ur a genius in Math,then you know how to calculate % by default, but just because you know how to calculate percentages,doesn't mean you're perfectly good in Math! and if ur wondering why i chose finance while I lack the mathematical skills, its because Im "interested" AND "naturally able" to "Analyze" financial ratios(even though it needs some basic calculations) and give an investment summary which makes me "good" at it, so i guess thats kind of an answer to your previous question.
ReplyDeleteSo why are you writing your blog in questions instead of paragraphs?its not because you're lazy nor requiring the "know-how" its because you chose to... I'll tell you why,,you've used approximately 1/5 of your blog talking about girls,percentages, and giving real life/biological examples to strengthen your FIRST point.on the other hand ,you've used not more than 4 phrases "give or take" talking abt boys and their lack of writing skills, to compensate that you chose to write the other 1/5 of the blog in that pattern; shooting questions in a punctuation-less manner, again just to back up your SECOND point that boys dont own any writing talents..now you may not have thought abt that, but this my friend IS good writing techniques...
I think its my turn to ask a question now..is it only me or this statement should be vice versa? "Rana" is keen on Analysis and Zizou has good writing abilities.
Renna you bring up some really interesting points AND questions but...
ReplyDeleteI agree with most of what you said but I think you are just stating the obvious there.
ReplyDeleteWhat I was talking about is that most boys are naturally able when it comes to simple mathematical calculations even below average students, however in the girls world you'll find below or even above average students who can't do just that. If you don’t believe me go check for yourself you can use your school’s own students, you can even include the top students from every department if you want. Yes, I’m that confident.
I never said that calculating percentages automatically makes you good at math.
You need a lot more than just simply being able to calculate percentages -correctly- to be a considered mathematical genius Renna.
Nobody thinks that you are perfectly good at math and I'm certainly not one of them... you suck at math get over it ;)
With that being said you are among a very rare group of people if you consider the whole community.
Finding a girl who can calculate percentages is not as common as you think don’t take what you know and see every day as an example, you might think that they are a very large section but –sadly- they are not and they don’t represent the population.
You can take statistics 101 to find out why they don’t represent the population or you can just read about normal distributions and you will understand me better.
Btw I really appreciate what you said about my writing because I'm busting my back trying to improve, I thought I was starting to get better, and I'm glad to see that all this effort is finally starting paying off however I still think that writing isn't my best trait.
Okay to summarize I’m going to say/write this:
I don’t believe that boys can't be good at writing it’s just that it is not as natural as other skills. You will be surprised at the number of successful men out there who can’t even write a sentence or two without making foolish spelling mistakes.
True geniuses are equally able in mathematical as well as verbal skills and if you go back and look at geniuses you’ll find that they were equally adept at a multitude of skills. One example that comes to mind is Leonardo da Vinci but he is just one of many. They all used their minds as whole and that amplified their abilities because they knew that, after a certain point, strengthening one area of the brain automatically strengthens the others.
Ps I could go on and elaborate on this further and explain some of the ways in which you could achieve that but it’s beyond the scope of this topic plus I need to sleep as I have a statistics class in a few hours
girls are better when fuzzy logic and heuristics, rather than prescise methods are needed. for example there is no strict way to solve systems of non-linear equations, but still you can get acceptable approximate results. the same with girls - they derive conclusions, based on intuition and life experience, without employing any algorithms. binary boolean logic seems to constraining to them --> many natural sciences repel them.
ReplyDelete2 renna
ReplyDeleteNo wonder there is the World Financial Crysis.
AFAIK, financial analysis empolys mathematical statistics, probability theory, and game theory. are the "basic calculations?"
okay just to clear things up before I start, I am not taking any sides nor being a bias in terms of the sexes, its not about who is better than the other because apparently this is not a football match and I wouldn't go for "women empowerment" because i think they've passed through that and they are already in power.
ReplyDeleteback to the subject...Frankly, I AM stating the obvious and the obvious is that your question is certainly not a measurement, you asked a thought provoking question and you'll get a normal, personal and most of all logical answer from an ordinary human brain "not" retrieving/using any kind of facts or scientific data to support its point of view. I used me and you as an example to simplify but you're not pointing out that I haven't by any chance been knowing that there are six billion people in the world are you?!!!
Now, if you want to speak entirely statistics and science (which you didn't prefer to initially!) then asking "why girls are into writing and guys are into numbering" is exactly like asking "why boys have more sexual desires while girls think only with their hearts!! because the answer is purely scientific and with a little consideration that every rule has its exceptions; NOONE can disagree. You know that, not because you are smart enough to read statistics, and not because statistics itself is smart enough to provide statistics!!! but because you, me AND statistics are not smart enough to beat the magical functions of BIOLOGY.
Lets talk a little bit about that shall we? I am positive you have the sufficient information with regards to left-right hemisphere functions.. studies show that when male tend to think their left hemisphere(Linear thinking mode, concerned with science,logic,lists mathematics and language) is utilized more than the right hemisphere, whereas in females the utilization is equally distributed between both the left and the right hemisphere, the latter is concerned with Holistic thinking including imagination, emotional expression, creativity and dimensions, this is why women tend to have more verbal capacity or skills because they're brains are not specialized as it is in men, this does not make women smarter! its just how their brain works!
You mentioned Leonardo Davinci one of the rare geniuses who was indeed magnificent in terms of math, physics,biology, art,sculpture..etc. but there is something you have to recall, Davinci was left-handed, you see, according to the "handedness related differences with the hemispheres" , naturally, a right handed practices his left hemisphere brain capacity however, a left handed practices his right AND his left and there's actually a significant reason for that but i wouldn't want to make this more confusing!. SO Davinci was unique, exceptional and one of a kind, one of the simple reasons of his perfect scientific/artistic abilities was his left handedness. and again, every rule has its exceptions and davinci is the exception in this case because 13% of the world population including me are left handed and none of them are Davinci! after all,you still wouldn't find shakespeare solving an equation or Einstein writing literature. in nutshell, male geniuses who own a "multitude of skills" are far less than you think...
btw ,I suck at math indeed but Im not getting over it! I'd rather improve my mathematical skills rather than letting it go.
I hope you knew how to measure a portfolio's risk using the standard deviation in your statistics exam, its always the easiest question ;)
Lol Adam, I think you missed the part where I mentioned that I'm a college student, its not like the future of GoldmanSachs is dependent on me!!
ReplyDelete>>> True geniuses are equally able in mathematical as well as verbal skills and if you go back and look at geniuses you’ll find that they were equally adept at a multitude of skills.
ReplyDeleteAs Hilbert said about one of his former apprentices: "He became a poet, since he lacked imagination to become a mathematician".
Like who?? Aristotle?michael Angelo? Albert Einstein? Isaac Newton?Leonardo DaVinci? Benjamin Franklin,Thomas Edison??.....All Left Handed.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWow it's getting really hot in here...
ReplyDeleteI'm going to get back to you later tonight hopefully or tomorrow morning as I have a few assignmentS to work on where I would need both right and left parts of my brain.
Edit: I corrected a spelling mistake hence the capital S
Hahahaha you keep working on that and ill keep working on my numbers,,.
ReplyDeleteCheers mate!
Glad to see that you are not taking it personally
ReplyDeleteDont you think that it's funny that we both admit that we have weakenesses in the areas covered in the topic.
Zizou=words & Renna=numbers
hahaha yea well, a person admitting that he/she has his/her own flaws is a sign of civilization...at least thats how I personally see it!
ReplyDeleteother than that,your question was not that challenging :D, you can simply refer to scientific facts to get an answer. Anticipating your next blog, no pressure though!
salam from Jeddah ;)
I have a lot to say but you have digressed away from the topic that it will take a reply the length of PHD thesis to reply... so I’ll save my efforts for another time/blog as I think the issues you have raised need a specific blog post to be allocated for in order for it to be discussed fairly. It won’t be the next topic though.
ReplyDeletenice blog mate ... keep it up :D
ReplyDelete