It was around Thanksgiving in Kauai, 2010. Gwyne had been at a work party that I managed to avoid because I’m not particularly fond of forced fun. Also, Gwyne is a FOMO’s FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) and I’m a committed member of team JOMO (Joy Of Missing Out). I was at the beach and when I came home I discovered two equally sized pumpkin desserts on the counter with a note, “You can have half.” So I did. What is half? 50%, right? That’s what I think. But the devil, oh that rascally devil, is in the details.
When Gwyne came home, she lost it. Because I dutifully followed her directions and had my half. The two *equally sized* pumpkin desserts were pumpkin pie and pumpkin crunch. So I ate my half. I ate the pumpkin crunch. Gwyne was not pleased nor amused. She said, “I said you could have half! Half of the pumpkin pie and half of the pumpkin crunch.” For those of you who don’t know Gwyne well, she is a bit more emotive than I am. Okay, maybe more than a bit. I said, in what seemed to be an enragingly calm voice, “I had half. There were two desserts. They were the same size. They were both comprised mostly of pumpkin. 50% is 50%.”
And we were off! At work the next day, we looked for allies to try to support our competing narratives, of which I still contend is the simplest of simple fractional problems. Don’t let emotions get in the way of the facts. I would frame my question much like the above, if there are two equally sized pumpkin flavored desserts and someone says you can half, does it matter which half you have? Oh, those devilish details. Gwyne would work her crowd and say, “IF there was a pumpkin PIE cut in a triangular slice AND a square pumpkin CRUNCH and someone says you can have half of what are obviously two very, very different desserts, what does that mean to you?” Overwhelmingly, over the years when we pose the question to friends and family, I’ve come out on the losing end. And I get it. Math is tough for some folks.
Happy Thanksgiving to all and be safe.
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