Math can be overwhelming. Especially calculus. Every day we learn something new in class, and I can grasp certain elements of what we’re being taught, but there’s still a lot that I’m not quite getting. Granted, upon doing the homework, and talking with some of my classmates and the professor, I manage to get a better grasp on the subject matter as the week progresses.
However, there are still those days where he’ll teach us something new that just completely leaves my mind reeling. And it’s at those times that the line I used for the title of this entry keeps popping into my head.
The quote itself comes from a 1994 film called “Little Big League” about a young boy who inherits the Minnesota Twins Baseball Team when his grandfather (the team’s owner, played by Jason Robards) passes away. Naturally, hi-jinks, hilarity, and life lessons ensue and the team makes it to the big game at the end of the season to see if they’ll advance to the post-season playoffs. However, since the game in question occurs in September, the film’s young protagonist is back in school and dealing with homework.
A few hours before the game, he’s working on a story problem (in the team's locker room) that states “If Joe can paint a house in 3 hours and Sam can paint it in 5 hours, how long does it take for them to paint the house together?” As he tries to solve it, more and more of the players are brought in to brainstorm and come up with an answer. During their discussion, one of the players quietly says to himself “I should know this… my uncle’s a painter.” And another player asks the obvious question “Why don’t they just get a house that’s already painted?”
Now, I’ll admit that those lines popping into my mind probably aren’t the most helpful for me when I’m trying to comprehend the speed and distance that two ships are sailing in two different directions and how to create the equation that states how they relate to each other (or some other equally complex computation), but it does help me relax and see about approaching the problem with a clearer head, so it’s not all bad.
And for those that were wondering. It takes 1 and 7/8ths hours for them to paint it together (according to the film).
