Tag: math

Posted in mathematics, Through the Bible Devotions

Just do the math

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Antoine Dautry on Unsplash

Some “through the bible” thoughts from Luke 2.

In his gospel, Luke mentions a man name Simeon who is waiting to see the Messiah. “It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ” (Luke 2:26). In faith, he knows he’s immortal until he puts eyes on the Savior. Imagine what you could do with a promise like that!

I’m a math guy, but I never considered that Simeon did the math when he went to the temple on the very same day when Joseph and Mary showed up with Jesus.

The shepherds who saw and heard the angelic announcement and praises about the Christ’s birth had told everyone what they had experienced (Luke 2:17). News like that spreads quickly.

Simeon was righteous and devout (2:25). He knew the Old Testament statute that after circumcision, a woman would come to the temple with her son in thirty-three days for purification (Leviticus 12). The Spirit of God, working through the Word, gave Simeon a good idea of when the Messiah would show up at the temple. This was not an accidental encounter. God had arranged for this meet-up a long time ago.

I’m smiling as I write this. My undergraduate degree was liberal arts, but I majored in math. Years later, God led me to the seminary to prepare for pastoral ministry. To some, math and ministry appear to be thousands of miles apart. For me, they are next door neighbors!

I cut my math teeth on algebra in eighth grade. I helped all my friends get through ninth grade geometry. Functions, trigonometry, and calculus all made sense to me in high school. From statistics to topology, God prepared me for graduate study in theology. By God’s grace, I love numbers almost as much as I love him!

I know enough about math to know that you can’t calculate when Jesus will return. I also can’t assume that the little bit you have won’t go a long way, as it did with the feeding of the five thousand. My age may be a finite number, but nothing about God is. The concept of infinity simply leads me to worship the eternal God and look forward to eternal life.

Math got me some awards and college scholarships in high school. Math prepared me to help my daughter excel in high school calculus. Math gives me the chance to tutor my home-schooled grandsons. Math gives me perspective when people try to use statistics to their advantage. Math reveals a creator who numbers my days, knows the how many hairs I have on my head, and constantly gives more than I ask for or imagine.

Posted in Life

A Forgotten Tool: Using a Slide Rule in Physics Class

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Daily writing prompt
Describe something you learned in high school.
View all responses

I took physics in eleventh grade. It’s hard to imagine, but fifty years ago, four-function (+, -, x, /) handheld calculators were new and an expensive luxury. So I learned how to use a slide rule.

My dad had a K&E slide rule he used through college and his early engineering days. I adopted it and took it to class every day to work through the math part of physics. I faintly remember getting pretty good at using a slide rule. Using logarithms, a slide rule enables you to turn a difficult multiplication or division problem into a simpler addition or subtraction problem.

In the movie Apollo 13, a whole room full of engineers pull out slide rules to figure out flight trajectories to get the three astronauts home when their capsule is damaged by an explosion.

After high school, programmable calculators became affordable, and by the time I started college in 1975, there wasn’t a slide rule to be found on campus.

Posted in Life

Algebra

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Laura Rivera on Unsplash
Daily writing prompt
Who was your most influential teacher? Why?
View all responses

I was blessed to have so many outstanding teachers in elementary, junior high, and high school.

There is one that stands out. Mrs. Flaig was my eighth grade algebra teacher who helped me take my first step academically and mathematically.

Back then (1972), you were a smartie if you took eighth grade algebra. Mrs. Flaig had a reputation for being a very demanding teacher. No nonsense. Strict. Very strict.

The class was arranged in five rows of five wooden side-desk chairs. Each day, she would call a row and a column, and we would dutifully go to the front or side chalkboards to do an assigned problem. Those who’s rows or columns weren’t called had to check the work of those at the board. If either failed, we heard about it.

I rarely failed. I loved the problems and the solutions. I loved the equations, the variables, the graphs, and the solutions. Mrs. Flaig demanded much, recognized elegant solutions, and encouraged us to work hard.

Mrs. Flaig let me know in no uncertain terms that I was good at math. Her encouragement was all I needed to launch me into a world of mathematics. I was the best in the class in algebra. I loved ninth grade geometry. I was passionate about high school math. When I went to college I majored in mathematics. My brain was wired for math.

Mrs. Flaig guided me into an academic world of math and science that continued through college and my first job in computer programming. While I spent my career in pastoral ministry, I have always approached life through the eyes of a mathematician, with a constant eye toward patterns, series, equations, and variables.

Thank you, Mrs. Flaig.

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

A tough math lesson to learn

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by cottonbro studio on pexels.

A “through the bible” devotion from 2 Samuel 24.

The book of 2 Samuel ends on a sad note. Even though Joab advises against it, David takes a census of Israel.

Here we read that the Lord was angry with Israel and he incited David to call for a count of the people. In the parallel text of 1 Chronicles 21:1, it is Satan at work here. This is one of those times when God allowed a temptation, to teach and discipline David.

The results are impressive: his military forces number 1.3 million. But there is a price to pay. Seventy thousand die by plague because of David’s sin. When you are in leadership, your decisions affect a lot of people, and here, an entire nation.

Exodus 30:12 speaks to this. “When you take a census…” be prepared to make atonement for each one, a contribution, so that there won’t be a plague. These are God’s people, not yours.

What’s going on here? Is David simply curious? Or do the numbers bolster his confidence? Is he finding his strength in numbers rather than in God? David learns that God can take it all away.

I guess we all need that reminder. We need a math lesson. You and I have one God. That’s really as far as we need to count.

Posted in Through the Bible Devotions

God counts. And so do you.

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Photo by Austris Augusts on Unsplash

A “through the bible” devotion from Numbers 1.

“Numbers” is an appropriate title for the fourth book of the bible as God instructs Moses to “Take a census” (Numbers 1:2).

I’m a math guy. I like numbers, equations, statistics, calculations, and graphs. I love the truth that God is a math guy, too. God counts things.

  • “Does [God] not see my ways, and count all my steps? (Job 31:4)
  • “The Lord will count when He registers the peoples” (Psalm 87:6).
  • “[God] counts the number of the stars” (Ps. 147:4).
  • “Even the hairs of your head are all counted” (Matthew 10:30).

This census of Israel is impressive. It reveals an impressive fighting force, “all in Israel who are able to go to war” (Numbers 1:3). It’s not going to be easy. God will give them the victory, but they will have to fight. And it’s not just physical. It’s the “good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12). You’ll need armor to take a stand (Ephesians 6:13). Christian soldiers march onward into war, right?

I’m just one person on a planet where eight billion people live. And yet I am not just a number. I am somebody. God knows my name. He listens to my prayer. I count. I matter. I’m important enough that he sent his son Jesus to die for me.

One of the most important things you can do is let someone know they’re important. They matter. They count. Always start with that, before you tell them they matter to God. Make it real.