Turning a Nail Polish Disaster Into a Teachable Math Moment

theodp writes: In The Spiral of Splatter, SAS's Rick Wicklin writes that his daughter's nail polish spill may have created quite a mess, but at least it presented a teachable math moment: "'Daddy, help! Help me! Come quick!' I heard my daughter's screams from the upstairs bathroom and bounded up the stairs two at a time. Was she hurt? Bleeding? Was the toilet overflowing? When I arrived in the doorway, she pointed at the wall and at the floor. The wall was splattered with black nail polish. On the floor laid a broken bottle in an expanding pool of black ooze. 'It slipped,' she sobbed. As a parent, I know that there are times when I should not raise my voice. I knew intellectually that this was one of those times. But staring at that wall, seeing what I was seeing, I could not prevent myself from yelling. 'Oh my goodness!' I exclaimed. 'Is that a logarithmic spiral?'" So, got any memorable teachable math moments you've experienced either as a kid or adult? Yes, Cheerios Math counts!

Comments

Black nail polish?

[Anonymous Coward]

When dealing with the shame of owning an Emo/Goth child, it's important not to blame yourself.

It was likely exposure to some toxic chemical that turned her bad, not your parenting.

At least that is what you should tell yourself.

Re:Black nail polish?

[Anonymous Coward]

Not necessarily. Any child who has a parent who would immediately think 'is that a logarithmic spiral' rather than 'how in the hell am I going to clean this mess up and how much is it going to cost me' is pretty much assured to wind up really fucked up.

Re:Black nail polish?

[funwithBSD]

The emaciated boyfriends could be a plus, less likely to pull a muscle while dragging the body to the trunk.