Private factoring
March 16, 2008 pm31 5:44 pm
I factor permutations of subway car numbers to pass the time on rides when I have nothing to read. (Last night, 1157, but I only got two-thirds done, since I had had some wine and started not so far from home).
Commenter Sara factors to help herself fall asleep.
I factor/do long division to hold my composure.
And Mr. Munroe?
This sort of factoring is soothing, calming. It requires focus. It is a solitary activity. Silence, or white noise, or unengaging background helps. And it is kind of nuts.
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JD2718 
“This sort of factoring is soothing, calming. It requires focus. It is a solitary activity. Silence, or white noise, or unengaging background helps. And it is kind of nuts.”
Do you mean in the same way reading the Spanish dictionary or diagramming sentences appeals to me as a FL teacher? (LOL)
Of course not. Factoring is serious. Reading a dictionary? Unless, of course, you are factoring the page numbers. How is it? veinte nueve vezes treinta y uno hacen nueve cientos menos uno?
Too hard for me.
See? Most anything can be made a serious endeavor via factoring -even reading a Spanish dictionary.:)
A more simplistic version from the musical field might be when I was in school and counting rests. 33 measures in 4/4 time would normally be counted 1 2 3 4 – 2 2 3 4 – 3 2 3 4 … 33 2 3 4 – PLAY. I would count to 33 four times instead.
I completely forgot about that until this past week when one of my percussionists was counting her rests and she began counting 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … I realized she wasn’t counting the measures, she was counting the number of beats. We got a a 7 measure rest and she asked “what’s 4 times 7…oh, 28” and then proceeded to count to 28.
Of course, I count just about anything I can. If I’m not careful, I’ll count the number of steps I walk from the parking lot to the store, or whatever…
I guess I’m a big ol’ nerd after all…