Do you know what you´ve done? ...I just shoot John Lennon!

Mark David Chapman replied to the Dakota doorman. But who really killed John Lennon? Mark Chapman, according to the Detective Arthur O´Connor, looked as if he had been programmed, it was no his will to kill him. Lennon’s murder was not the work yet another “lone nut” someone, somehow managed to brain washed Chapman to do the murder for him.
We must bring order to chaos, that´s the rule by which our brains abide. If something seems to be out of place, we must make sense of it. It doesn’t seem logical that Chapman wanted to kill Lennon, not even for the fame, since he refused to talk to the press. There seems to be so many things out of place that the only “logical” explanation that is SIMPLE enough for our brains, it´s that someone else wanted to kill Lennon and send Chapman to do the job.
It is funny how are brain craves for logical explanations to everything around us, making us wonder why things happen. But in a sense all it wants is a SIMPLE logical explanation, the hard truth about most things it is not simple at all. So it is only when we have some real problem that we dedicate enough time to think about all the possibilities that could arise. Only then we do the hard work no to look for the most simple logical explanation but for the right one.
That brings’ me to mathematics, where you must find the right solution or you’ll fail the test. See in theory we should all love mathematics, I know sounds crazy right? But think about it, we should like math, it makes sense. It follows a series of logical steps that brings us to an irrefutable conclusion. But then again the key word here is SIMPLE! We enjoy simple logic, the easier the better.
Chinese are better at math in general, and one of the probably reasons that has been research lately is their numbers. Their numbers make more sense; they follow a logical way, it´s not like in English that sixteen, seventeen, eighteen more or less follow a patter but not eleven or twelve. Their numbers are shorter to pronounce so it uses less temporal memory, so in a way, it makes math easier for them at the beginning and with a good foundation the next steps are easier.
It s not only that, what makes them better, actually is the hard work they are willing to put it. In average college students dedicate 2 min to a problem before they decide it’s too hard and move on to the next one, while the range was between 30s and 5min. With that little time there is no space for the “aha!” moment, it usually takes about 20 to 30 min of trial and error until we can see it!
It worries me that 47% of men and 62% of women who are asked math questions show symptoms such as tension, nervousness, concern, worry, edginess, impatience, confusion, fear and mental block. If they only knew that a bit more dedication from them now, could go a long way in the future, and that all in all they would be much better if they understood it.
We need to learn, that some things, while not simple they are not beyond our reach. And that with just a little bit of effort we can make the right logical connections in our brain, and enjoy that “aha!” moment for the rest of our life. Whether it’s an explanation to something unconventional, or a math problem, or any other of life challenges that gets thrown at us, we must dedicate the right amount of time to solve it, so that in the future similar challenges become a piece of cake.