Friendship Equation

           Admit it. We all hated algebra (at some point in life, if not perpetually). With all the (+)s and (–)s and to make it worse there are stupid jokes about how we try to find the Xs and Ys. Dude, she’s “X” for a reason, “Y” would you want to find her. Anyway, if Math has so many EXs he’s got serious stability issues (or he’s super playboy).

            I was in the 6th when I first heard the word ‘Algebra’.  A very weird sounding word indeed. The only other word that sounds and means similar that I found is ‘Avada Kedavra’. When my Math teacher dictated us a problem he always began with ‘Solve’ with such an accent that it sounded to me like ‘Saavu’ which in our native tamil language means ‘Die’.  Eerie resemblance, I know.

            Then came the most basic notion to be remembered forever. The sign concept (which was tougher than learning sign language) which tells us what the sign of the answer should be when the numbers are of different signs. There were many shortcuts explained to us, each of which found their own shortcuts from left ear to right ear without going through the brain. Then my dad taught me how to use a line with zero in the middle and positive and negative numbers at either side, which helped a lot in understanding how to add and subtract the numbers. The multiplying and dividing have the same rule, which I used to make my own equation (yes, at that age). Applauses later folks ;)

            It goes like this. You are walking down the street and you bump into a friend. He’s with a friend and introduces him to you. Now who is this guy to you? A friend? Well, thinking about it, yes. And that’s what the friendship equation tells us.

            We will take positive sign as a friend because they induce positive feelings in us. So the negative sign must be enemy (how smart). And the rest is self explanatory.

                           (+) *(+)=(+)
      Friend of our Friend is our Friend

                           (+) *(-)=(-)

      Friend of our Enemy is our Enemy

                           (-) *(+)=(-)

      Enemy of our Friend is our Enemy

                           (-) *(-)=(+)

       Enemy of our Enemy is our Friend

   Who says algebra can’t be used in our practical life :)