If you had to choose between cat and calculus, which one would you save, especially if you happened to be a cat-and-math lover?

Unlike dogs that are faithful, loyal, and obedient, cats are unpredictable, independent, and creative.

Yes, you can rely on a dog to unconditionally love you back even after you’ve scolded or even ill-treated them. The same treatment could hardly be said of or expected from a “never-forget” cat, who’s often the master (or lord) of their owner.

It’s probably not a coincidence that a title like Calculus for Cats doesn’t just sound catchy (or even sexy), but it’s also apt for the feline family for a number of reasons.

Arguably, most dogs and puppies could handle algebra and trigonometry (or even pre-calculus), but cats and kittens, blessed with a “higher IQ” than their canine counterparts, could apparently manage calculus as well—or even intuitive topology in the hands of a geeky trainer.

Philosophically, dogs are peasants; cats are poets.

Singapore’s Cat Problem Solvers

It’s said that most dogs solve elementary math word problems religiously using algebra, without much appreciation (or comprehension?) of what they’re doing, unlike [lazy] cats—who’re always on the lookout for a shorter or creative way—that are prone to using the intuitive bar or stack model method to solving them.

Based on TIMSS and PISA rankings, it’s probably not an exaggeration to say that zero resources Singapore has done a relatively good job vis-à-vis other high GDP nations (with a much higher education budget) in nurturing its students (and teachers) into cat problem solvers.

Are You a Cat or Dog?

As a mathematical problem solver, are you more cat than dog? Or, to play safe, would you rather not rock the boat, by reluctantly being a dog math educator? Besides, you probably feel safer to sticking to routine algebraic methods than exploring nontraditional strategies in solving brain-unfriendly questions.

No Sacrificial Lamb

Coming back to the dilemma between cat and calculus, if you’re a geeky cat lover, which one would you choose?

Assuming that no dog would be made the scapegoat to substitute the “unlucky” one, which one would you sacrifice or die for to keep one over the other?

Wisely yours

© Yan Kow Cheong, December 22, 2024.