Using Mathematical Fluency in Your Personal Life

by Jan B. Roosa, Ph.D.

Lindsay had not realized how her choice of relationships with men had ignored using simple patterns and odds. The results had been that she did not predict accurately how they would act. Thus, predictable incompatibility continuously surprised and disappointed. She kept thinking "There's something wrong with me." This changed markedly as she learned to apply these simple Interpersonal Math skills.

Something as common as a conversation can be numerated? My god! Math used in interpersonal relationships? What is this world coming to?

Nothing new. Math has been used by children and adults since the beginning. Its always been an important tool for getting along with each other, for legal and moral behavior, marriage, growing up, and on and on.

To go on. The speaker speaks with an enthusiasm rating of 8 and the listener listens with an average of 2 --- not a very compatible balance, is it? Haven't all of us been on one side or the other of that equation --- that type of unbalanced interpersonal scene? As a teacher or student? Husband or wife? Parent or child? Boss or bossee? Preacher or preachee?

Five year olds calculate the odds of getting permission to get a cookie, go outside, stay up late, or watch a TV program. Your children will, in general, do a risk/benefit calculation. In other words, what are the odds they will get what they want, how risky is just the asking, how risky is objecting a little or a lot, and how big is the reward of getting what they want? That is interpersonal mathmatical fluency.

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FOR THE COMPLETE TEXT AND A WALKTHROUGH OF HOW TO UNDERSTAND AND USE THIS SKILL, CLICK BELOW TO ORDER AND DOWNLOAD THE INTERPERSONAL MATH MODULE! (21 PAGES)

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