DD13 says she hates math and professes to be bad at it. She is taking Algebra 1 and doing okay, as far as I can tell (this teacher is a bit odd in how she grades--I suspect her grade is inflated). She has very low self confidence as far as math and self directs towards the humanities.
However, for as long as she's been able to talk, she has been interested not in school math or math calculations, but funny little math ideas. What I want to know, because math is 100% not my thing, is whether DD should be encouraged to persevere with math til she gets to "big math"/interesting math. Here is an example of the kind of "math rule" DD tends to come up with when she should be paying attention in class. I have NO idea if this demonstrates math aptitude or is just a pretty obvious thing. my brain does not in any way work this way so to me it is impressive, but on the other hand I can see how it's just a basic identity, perhaps? I will NOT be offended if you tell me it is nothing special. What do you think?
x + y = (x squared-y squared)/x-y
