Percentage Help Excel

[phleb]

Hiya, i know i can rely on you all. what is £450-10%? i have set percentage on excel. but answer comes up as 449.90. thanks x

[jim360]

Smiling smugly as somone glazes over is just low. And anyway misses the point -- if anyone glazes over after I've tried to explain it I've not done my job properly, so I don't really have anything to be arrogant about.

The entire ethos of Only Connect is to celebrate geekiness -- so of course they accentuate that side of people's characters. You might need it to go on the show to some extent anyway, of course, but not necessarily to the extent that comes across.

[Zacs-Master]

Well, 'geek' is the new 'cool'.

[sherrardk]

Jim, not being facetious but what is it that you do?

[jim360]

I'm currently studying for a PhD in Physics. I also teach undergraduate students (and I've taught as an assistant at my old High School).

[sherrardk]

Ah, physics - then you are going to be brilliant at maths and therefore will have no tolerance/understanding/empathy with anyone who 'doesn't get maths'.

[jim360]

Hmm... I don't think that's really fair at all.

[Zacs-Master]

Sherr, so you missed jams post which said:

Having said that, being bad at maths (or any other subject) isn't the end of the world. Hopefully you'll be able to pick it back up again with the aid of bitesize -- and also feel free to ask questions here, there's plenty of people who will be happy to help with Excel and/ or maths questions you may have.

[Zacs-Master]

Jim's.

[lardhelmet]

My mother used to tell me I was stupid because I didn't get maths, so I grew being frightened of/intimated by arithmetic.

[jim360]

Or, for that matter, the post where I criticised your ex for being so smug when you didn't get his explanations. I'd never do that. What's to be smug about if you can't explain something clearly?

[sherrardk]

It's not meant to be unfair, it's an observation. To be good at physics you have to be good at maths. All the people I have known who are good at maths (loads of maths teachers) really cannot understand when people don't get maths, their minds work in such a way that they 'get' maths and don't understand why some people don't 'get' maths. It's a mindset that doesn't seem to happen with languages or science or English, etc.

[Zacs-Master]

So your blatantly ignoring the fact that Jim wrote:
Having said that, being bad at maths (or any other subject) isn't the end of the world. Hopefully you'll be able to pick it back up again with the aid of bitesize -- and also feel free to ask questions here, there's plenty of people who will be happy to help with Excel and/ or maths questions you may have.

[sherrardk]

Gosh, sorry Zacs - not blatantly ignoring it (half watching something on TV). I actually thought it was a bit of back-pedalling on Jim's behalf but decided not to call attention to it. The word 'condescending' came to mind, thought it best not to stir the ***, but you obviously thought better of it.

[Svejk]

If anything Jim is too nice to thick people.

[Dizmo]

I don't know what circles ((x − a)2 + (y − b)2 = r2) you've moved in, however I've never met any 'mathematical genius('s)' that have ever belittled a 'non mathematical genius('s)'. I'd say "Maybe I'm weird" but I can't as I know I am.

[sherrardk]

Phleb, sorry for the turn your post has taken. Don't be disheartened though.

[Zacs-Master]

I can see that Jim gave nothing but factual answers up until his post which I have quoted twice. I see nothing condescending at all and so yes, I see fit to comment 'otherwise' to your accusations.

[jim360]

I think you're lumping together too many things though.

"tolerance/ understanding/ empathy".

I might not have a full understanding of what it's like to struggle with what I'd regard as "basic" maths -- I've never struggled with it. But then that's entirely different from being tolerant. I spent half the time helping out at said High School explaining the difference between radius and diameter again and again and again without losing patience (well, not outwardly). Last week I was teaching someone twice my age at least, going step-by-step through a simple problem. If anything he was the one getting irritated at his own "stupidity". I kept having to reassure him that it was anything but, that he just lacked the experience to see how to tackle the problem.

Oh, and for that matter, it's not like I don't have empathy either. I spent basically three months this year on a calculation that, if I understood what was going on a bit more, should have taken less than a day -- and the error was a minus sign in the wrong place, or accidentally multiplying something by two, and the like. I struggle with maths too, plenty of times. More than most people here, I'd reckon, although then it's my day job so I have to struggle with it.

And through all this, I love to teach because I genuinely love the subject and I genuinely love trying to share that passion with other people, and maybe help them enjoy maths too.

In which case it's a bit frustrating, once again, to have a conversation that runs along the lines of "oh so what do you do?" "Physics" "ah you must be an arrogant git then"...

[jim360]

Oh and thanks for the support ZM and svejk :)

[lardhelmet]

I am much better at spelling and grammar and know the difference between your and you're etc.so I don't think I'm a total waste of space.