Before I knew what I wanted to do with my life, I knew what I didn't want to do — math.
Ever since that day in the fourth grade when my math teacher assigned us times tables for homework and I suffered through trying to memorize them, I knew my greatest dream was to never endure math again.
I did not think my resentment for math could intensify after my father banished me to my room for forgetting what 7 x 9 was, but then somehow letters were added to the mix, making my survival even more challenging.
After that, I made every possible academic choice to stay out of math classes. (Why else would anybody pick a journalism major?) I meticulously picked courses that would allow me to evade this subject and went as far as to avoid eye contact with the economics teacher.
Turns out, math held on to me like its life depended on it. For a subject that I spent years avoiding, it has clung to me desperately. Who knew the man buying 47 watermelons in Algebra class had a problem based in reality?
Turns out math can be useful. I have had to use math to count the money ($0) in my bank account, to subtract the years college has taken off my life and to add up how many credits I could take this semester.
The assumption that I would never use the concepts my math teacher tried to instill in me while I was fighting sleep proved to be wrong — I'm so glad I can use the quadratic formula to find the ages of two siblings after they told me the product of their ages in 230 years.
I would also like to point out the one thing that actually stuck from my high school math class: my inability to remember how to use a graphing calculator. I know each button does something, but I have yet to figure out how I get every problem wrong in an unprecedented way every time I try.
Another thing that my previous mathematical education prepared me for is enduring college math classes. I almost switched my major before I realized the math class was a general studies requirement. Around every corner of my academic path, math is lurking, waiting to strike.
The only thing that pushed me to pass my freshman college math class (where the graphing calculator came back to haunt me) was the fear of having to take it again. Apparently, journalists have to study data for stories sometimes. Is it too late for a career shift?
That means I have reached the final stage of grieving over math after avoiding it for nearly two decades — accepting that it is inescapable. Its haunting presence no longer gives me nightmares. I can figure out measurements for a recipe intended for six people so only two people can eat it and convert kilograms to pounds.
Counting how many words this article has is certainly not the last time I'll use math, but that will not stop me from hoping that it is.
Edited by Andrew Dirst, Sophia Braccio and Natalia Jarrett.
Reach the reporter at ktale@asu.edu and follow @KasturiTale on X.
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Kasturi is a sophomore studying journalism. This is her third semester with The State Press. She has her own blog and has worked in creative writing.
