conuly

I remember a select few of the kids in my class were pretty good at math, so when multiplication was first introduced to us, it was easy - though it still took us a little longer to solve than simple addition.

One day soon after that we had one of those "math aptitude by speed" tests, and my teacher saw mine and was a bit worried because I hadn't gotten very far (I've never been fast, but this was "worse") and none of the answers were right. Not too far along, she saw that I had multipled on every problem, quite correctly. The speed math test was for addition, and apparently my mind was still fixated on multiplication enough not to notice the addition signs. She was actually impressed with me for multiplying relatively quickly, then, aside from missing the addition sign.

I only remember this because my sister and I sometimes find it amusing to read back in my mom's "Gnome Gnotebook" where she had written various amusing anecdotes from us (ranging from interesting word uses to blaming the other sibling for a wet underwear accident). The teacher found it interesting enough to let my mom know about it. And I had learned to check the sign usage when doing math problems.