Greater Than

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I am horrible at math. I can’t “see” numbers in my head the way I can see images & ideas. As a student, I had to draw little dots on my math papers when I did calculations and doodle when I did word problems. Teachers were not very patient with my inability to keep up.

I remember being taught once about the “greater than/less than” symbols. (><). It made zero sense to me until someone said to imagine the “less than” symbol (<) as a smaller number with a mouth, ready to eat the bigger number.  From there, I imagined the bigger number holding a sword, pointing at the little number.

And from THERE, years later, I elaborated on that image with this painting. Still not sure if it makes any sense to me in the world of mathematics, but if they made math books full of fun illustrations, I might have paid a LOT more attention in class….

4 responses

  1. As someone who struggled with math (still do) I absolutely LOVE this illustration. Wish someone had explained math to me better – I got “don’t question it, it is what it is!”
    That was my problem I guess, I always question things (still do). LOL
    Great job!

    1. Me too! For that matter, history books. What’s with all my history teachers being monotone? I needed more visual stimulation.

  2. Awesome drawing! Math books look horrendous, which combined with their poor explanations (compared to Khan Academy — which is awesome) makes maths painful.

    1. Thanks! Yes, as a visual person, numbers DO NOT MAKE SENSE TO ME. AT ALL. I’d love to see a mathbook with complex problems explained in a way a visual person can understand…

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