Reply #9: The right teacher is important

[SwissTony]

My maths (that's what we call it in Australia) scores were nothing spectacular until I reached my final year in high school. I could do it all, but I wasn't really interested. My teacher in that last year was a guy called Dave. He really inspired me and suddenly maths seemed easy, interesting and fun. So much so, that I majored in mathematical statistics at uni and went on to work as a statistician. I tried chasing him up some years later to say thank you but could never contact him. So, if any of you happen to know a (now-retired) maths teacher called Dave who used to play in ruck for the Willunga Football Club, tell him Joseph is eternally grateful.

I've never met the "three cases of percentage". Why would you need such a classification? Adding and subtracting a percentage to a given quantity are the same operation, so why 'split' them? And I can't imagine what the third case was.

When I make a presentation to, say, medicos, I usually say "I've tried to keep the algebra to a minimum" but I also add a quip such as "How can you live without algebra?" (Aside: I know it's not everybody's cup of tea, but if someone describes e.g. a regression model to me, I can't "see" it until I see the algebraic underpinning).

LM, I'm glad you're mother went in to bat for you. Good on her.