Hard Numbers - Revised 11/01/07

I’m a pilot. Pilots love hard numbers, and for good reason. Not hard numbers in the sense of tough or rough-and-ready but hard in the good sense, by the book, empirical and that sort of thing. Pilots try to create a black and white world or a binary one with ones and zeros. “Climb to and maintain Flight Level 350” means exactly 35,000 feet above mean sea level and not one foot more or less.
When you enter an airplane most passengers look right, down the aisle towards their seats. Those adventurous adults or children look left into the cockpit door and see buttons, lights and levers; hear beeps, horns and radio transmissions; checklists being read, hands pointing, then reaching for cups of coffee by their sides. Those who request to see the cockpit are usually inquisitive children and an occasional adult afraid of flying. They want to see all the buttons (in their minds we push buttons for a living). The buttons they see are circuit breakers, one per electrical device so hundreds in view on the overhead panel. We rarely push these buttons. With a flick of a test switch we light up the front panel with red, yellow and green lights. The children’s eyes enlarge.
My wife doesn’t have all those “buttons” to memorize but can remember all our relatives, their children’s names and ages. My wife is innovative, independent, shows initiative and change plans as often as she likes. I have a little difficulty going there.
My wife is extremely fun to watch and be with as she goes through life. She’s interesting, exciting and a self described non-numeric. We’ve been married 38 years and just completed our 25th move.
Over the years I’ve tried to explain how easy it is for me to remember numbers like our new telephone number. I dump the old telephone numbers like I try to dump the DC-10 and B-727 numbers associated with the airplanes I don’t fly anymore. Explaining to my wife how I link numbers together to make them easier to remember is like reading your insurance policy late at night in bed when disinterest and sleepiness overcomes anyone in a 15-foot radius. On the other hand my wife types faster than I can read and does difficult crossword puzzles that overwhelm me instantly.
Here’s how I tell her to remember our new telephone number. The number is 555-541-1744 (it really isn’t) and you remember the fives and 4+1 equals 5, next the 1+7 equals 8 and the 4+4 equals 8 so all you have to remember is 5 and 8. That’s easy for me. “Simple, right?” I don’t think so. It’s simple for me and inconsequential for my wife. She’ll learn her new telephone number. It’s not a test or a race. Write it down, carry it in a book and look at it when you need it. That’s just as simple.
Another precursor that you might like hard numbers was when you were in elementary school and were learning your times tables. When you came to the nines it was tough. You memorized 3 x 9 = 27, 4 x 9 = 36 etc. Well if you were gifted with a photographic memory, then that was less than a great problem. The rest of us struggled. Others like my niece Katy picked up on a mathematical relationship that goes like this. Take any single digit number times nine and the answer is simply figured out this way: subtract one from that number and that’s the first digit of the answer. Subtract the original number from ten and that’s the second digit of the answer. Hence, 3 x 9 = 27 or 8 x 9 = 72. Are you following instructions or did you already know this? Anyway if you understand this then you love hard numbers.
Here’s another easy test. It involves Centigrade to Farenheit conversions. I take the Centigrade temperature, double it and take 10 per cent off then add 32 there you have it. My wife says “30’s hot 20’s nice ten’s cold, zero’s ice.” My wife’s asleep now that I’ve read her this article. Her crossword puzzle is strewn across her lap. Does anyone know a nine letter word for half blood wizard?