TMOD theme titled “Math Matters”

My 15 year old daughter hates math. The fact that she is not good at it obviously has a lot to do with the hating. She frequently raises some tough to answer questions about the subject – “Where am I going to use it? Why is it important? ” If these questions sound familiar to you, it’s not at all surprising. As kids, most of us used to wonder the same about Math as well. Here’s the truth – you may not have used everything you learnt in your math class but consciously or unconsciously you have definitely used a lot of it. For example – algebra. Every time you decide how much money you should invest to create a certain corpus or how to prepare a different size of serving of a certain dish, you use algebra. The geometry of different shapes, their area and volume is another lesson that you use many times. What television size would be ideal for your wall or how much water does your over head tank store – your geometry lessons come handy to answer these. Every time you make a decision, you use probability mentally to find the benefits of different choices and make a smart decision. In fact if you did your statistics class well in school, you could be a sought after talent in this new age. With the exponential spurt in the amount of data collected through social media, ecommerce and other arms of internet, there is immense scope for people who know how to use averages, regression, co relation, probability etc. and find hidden trends in data that companies may exploit. All of this is just a fraction of the math we use in our daily lives. The truth is if you don’t use more, in all likelihood, it’s because you don’t remember all your lessons well. If you did, you might as well add permutations, combinations, logarithm to the list I just made. Before we proceed any further recalling our math lessons, let’s recall about Toastmasters.

More specifically, how does a Toastmasters meeting happens. Every Toastmasters meeting is divided into three parts. The first part is the prepared speech section where members prepare a speech in advance, get it mentored and deliver the same. The second part is the impromptu session where anyone including the guest can participate. And the third part is the most important evaluation session where we will all learn how to improve ourselves. Let me now invite the General Evaluator to explain his role. Please help me welcome TM Name with a big round of applause.

Once the General Evaluator has explained his role, start the prepared speech section. After this session, continue with the theme as under.

Naturally one counter question that arises here is “That’s all right Manish. I know I use averages and probability. But what about Trigonometry or Calculus?” Let’s answer this from a different perspective. When you go to the gym and work out on a treadmill, are you training yourself to outrun a tiger in the forest someday? No right. Or let’s say you lift weights. Are you training to lift a heavy tree that may fall on you after a storm? No right? You train different exercises in the gym to fine tune different parts of your body. It’s the same with math. Different type of math exercises hep you train your brain for different types of thinking – analytical thinking, abstract thinking, critical thinking etc. which end up having a great impact on the life you lead, actions you take and decisions you make. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that math is gym for your brain.

It’s time now for the most exciting and fun session in a Toastmasters meeting. Please welcome with a big round of applause our Table Topic Master TM Name.

Once the table topic session is over, continue with the theme as under.

If you still have reservations about the math lessons you took, think about the geology classes you attended. Unless you are working for a mining company, most of us don’t use geology in our daily lives. Or use Shakespeare’s play to make delightful conversations in a party. Yet we studied not just these but also history, geography and chemistry. It’s because they help us grow into an all rounded person.

With that it’s time to start the final session of the meeting, the evaluation session. Let’s welcome the GE for the day TM Name.

Once the Evaluation session is over, conclude the theme as under.

Albert Einstein has said “Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it earns it. He who doesn’t pays for it.” Compound interest is as much math as it is finance. So, if you are a little good at math, you will know how compound interest works and how you can create exponential wealth using it. If nothing else, I hope that’s a little math that will definitely interest all of you. 

It’s time now for awards.