David W. answered • 07/14/17
Tutor
4.7
(90)
Experienced Prof
What a wonderful, practical question !!
Your husband, the math genius, should be able to look at a simple chart and conclude that it estimates some of the values instead of listing them exactly. As a math genius, I learned this when my wife estimated values of checks she had written and even rounded the numbers on check stubs to whole dollars [but only I had to balance the checking account]. It’s like inches on one edge of a ruler and centimeters on the opposite edge – they don’t quite line up [note: did you know that NASA lost the $125 million Mars orbiter because a Lockheed Martin engineering team used English units of measurement while the agency's team used the more conventional metric system for a key spacecraft operation?]. Thus, because my first car was a VW, I had to buy a set of metric wrenches to work on it.
So, if you can measure 1 2/3 cups, the easy way to double it is to do that twice.
Now, if 1 cup of water is 8 ounces. That means that 2/3 cup of water is 16/3 ounces, or 5 1/3 ounces [but who can measure 1/3 ounce without using spoons?], so the chart simply says it is 5 ounces. That means that doubling 2/3 of a cup makes 4/3 cups, or 10 2/3 ounces, so now when you use 10 ounces by trusting the chart, you are 2/3 ounce off from 10 [again, requiring the use of spoons if it is to be exact].
I still remember the wonderful homemade bread my mon, who was employed as a cook, often made – she measured salt in the palm of her hand.
I therefore conclude that you used the chart correctly. It wasn’t totally wrong, it just estimated (which us math geniuses have never quite learned is often a much easier, faster practice than doing everything to exacting standards).
Brandy K.
Also, thankyou so very much for putting your answer in a form that i could understand! My whole life people have just written out complex equations, like they are nothing, to answer my simple questions (and honestly, dyslexia is a b*tch). When i see a string of numbers and symbols it is very difficult for me to read. So thankyou for actually explaining your answer in words. I wish there had been teachers that explained things like that in my school ten years ago.
Report
07/14/17
David W.
True story --
One Thursday, I walked into the Church Fellowship Hall where a half-dozen (estimated) ladies were putting decorations on tables, streamers around poles, other things, I looked from item thinking about how much it would cost and how long it would take (I'm a retired project manager) and, after several minutes thought to myself, "This is nice!"
Just then, a pastor's wife walked in and stopped beside me. In less than 5 seconds she said, "This is nice!" I thought, "She can't know that, she hasn't had time to add it all up."
But then, she often gets things done while I'm still planning.
Report
07/14/17
Brandy K.
I know what you mean. I remember when my husband and I were looking over some nature photography my old mentor gave us, and my husband promtly says how much he liked them, while i was standing there still processing what f-stop was used for this picture or the filter used on that one, or how thebwhite-ballance had effected the contrast of the set of photographs overall. I was busy analyzing and admiring how the photos had been taken while he was just enjoying them aesthetically. :)
Report
07/14/17
David W.
Cool! You have some expertise that leaves your husband looking like a novice.
Now, that doesn't say that either is right or wrong, better or worse, or more or less valuable, etc. They are just different.
As a project manager, I had teams of engineers, computer experts, secretaries, managers, etc. It was critically important that every category of stakeholders be represented. We rarely agreed, but we learned that we must listen and we must attempt to appreciate other perspectives. We soon learned to ask each other good questions in order to get answers we could understand and to put our ideas into terms that the other person understood (or else they were off my team).
An excellent, easy-to-read, book by Christian counselor Dr. Gary Chapman:
The Five Love Languages [there is lots of information about it on the web].
Report
07/14/17
Brandy K.
Thankyou, we will check it out. My husband and I communicate with each other better than with anyone else, but we still sometimes have issues with miscommunication. Haha, but who doesnt? We both love to read (our personal library has nearly a thousand titles with books from almost every genre) so I'll find a copy and check it out. :)
Report
07/14/17
Brandy K.
07/14/17