My friend, we'll call her "Nina", works in a textbook store part-time. "Nina" is a recent college graduate with a B.A. in history and a highly intelligent young lady. A few weeks ago I was visiting her at work and helped her close out the cash register. It was my job to count out the change. As I counted it out, I told "Nina" the totals and she added them up. Here is our conversation:
Me: Pennies, $0.37
Nina: Ok....
Me: Nickels, $1.25
Nina: Ok....
Me: Dimes, $4.60
Nina: Ok....
Me: Quarters, $1.00
Nina: Ok.......so the total is $15.32!
Me: What!?!?!
Nina: That's what the calculator says! I punched it in all right.
Me: (After some calculations.) The total is $7.22!
Nina: Oh.
A big thank you to the liberal arts, which have prepared me and my friend for a life where we cannot add up small sums without calculators and when we do, its usually wrong. (In my friend's defense, I make tons and tons of mistakes in simple math.)
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