In high school I won an award one year for the highest grades in Algebra. Later some testing done while being considered for a promotion stated I had set a new record of achievement in the company’s testing for abstract thinking and mathematics. All I can say is they couldn’t have been reaching very high if I was able to set a new standard of achievement. I am a “tinkerpreneur” in the mold of my Daddy and as Thomas Edison is said to have quipped as he tested thousands of different metal filament mixes that each failure simply took him closer to the one that would work. My theory has generally been that quantity eventually leads to quality. I watched the movie “Hidden Figures” this week about three African American women whose skill with numbers were critical in helping calculate data needed to launch America’s space program in the 50’s and 60’s. Reading the stories of these mathematicians’ work, it seems they are familiar with that approach too! But they rarely needed more than one run at their cyphering to get it right!
