One twelve year old student complained that mathematics confused her. Einstein wrote, Æ' ±Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics. I can assure you that mine are still greater.Æ' Einstein did have a hard time in school. So why do we call him a genius? We sometimes think intelligence means being quick to solve school problems. But Einstein plodded through school. He preferred to follow his own interests. He studied at his own interests. His thoughts often wandered. His search led him to investigate mathematics too. AlbertÆ' s uncle Jacob Einstein was an engineer. He introduced Albert to algebra. Algebra is a part of mathematics used to find an unknown quantity. In algebra the letter. Æ' ±XÆ' often stands for the unknown number. Æ' ±Algebra is a merry science,Æ'. Uncle Jacob told Albert. Æ' ±When the animal that we are hunting cannot be caught, we call it Æ' ±XÆ' temporarily and continue to hunt it until it is bagged.Æ' Jacob also taught Albert geometry. Geometry is another part of mathematics, it deals with lines, points, and angles. Albert loved hearing about geometry. It seemed Æ' ±lucid and certain ,Æ' he later said. Albert sometimes stumbled over calculations. He made mistakes in addition and subtraction, but he began to understand advanced concepts of algebra and geometry. Susan adds sixty miles per hour plus five miles per hour. Her answer is sixty-five miles per hour. Two plus two equals four- no matter if you are traveling on a ship, airplane, train, or stubborn mule! Two plus two equals four- thatÆ' s all there is to it! Think about this: speed & time and distance are related. Divide the distance an object has moved, by the amount of time it took to travel that distance. This will give you the speed the object was traveling at. Speed (S) equals distance (D) divided by time (T), (S=D/T). E=mc2 is the foundation of all matter.
