I do not understand an academic screening process that makes you prove you know algebra to get into college, then prove it again to study for a master’s degree, then prove it yet again to earn a doctorate degree. You have to pass this test even if your field of study is not mathematics or doesn’t use math.Journalists, of course, do need to be familiar with math, particularly to make sense of statistics. I took an online course a few years ago to hone my skills and understanding of statistics, but in the over three decades since I studied algebra I have never had occasion to whip out an equation to solve a problem. Perhaps I run in the wrong circles.
I do remember the thrill of solving problems, though, and the thrill came back this week when my wife got excited about using a basic formula, which she showed me. It looked something like this: (x-y)2 = (x+y)2. Don’t quote me on that. I said what, are you trying to hurt my brain? After dismissing the algebra out of hand I decided to risk the damage, studied the problem and had that eureka moment, aha! Very nice.
The beauty of the algebra is that you don’t need to multiply large, unwieldy numbers then check for mistakes; you just have your X, make your calculations, translate the X into a simple number at the end and voila, your answer. Trouble is, I just don’t have these occasions to substitute X for a given quantity and then relate everything else to it to come up with the answer, which in this case was 4,004. Thus my euphoria faded soon enough.
Which brings me to math in the larger spheres of business and politics. Former US President Bill Clinton spoke in İstanbul last week at a conference on sustainable success and advised Turkey to increase its regional influence by getting its own house in order, principally by recognizing the rights of minorities. He referred to the Orthodox Christian community, specifically suggesting that the government allow the Halki Seminary on Heybeliada to reopen. Clinton said that Turkey should strive for win-win scenarios and move away from the zero-sum games where only one party can win.
Win-win is a nice idea and applies to business life in some ways, but in most cases you are struggling for market share in a finite market. Turkish manufacturers and service providers had become accustomed to double-digit growth in many sectors over the past decade, but the past year saw many markets decline. For example, in the mobile telecoms market, the total number of subscribers declined, a decline that analysts attribute partially to the recession and partially to the introduction of mobile number portability a year ago, which made it much easier for dissatisfied customers to switch phone companies.
And car sales declined across the board, both exports and domestic. In the automotive world, you had the case of a company possibly gaining market share but selling fewer cars overall. The fleet sales manager for OYAK-Renault doesn’t want to hear about win-win; he wants to hear about his company beating everyone else -- let the losers do what they will.
Take housing contractors. If you find yourself with a winning strategy in a down market, you don’t care who’s not making it; you only care that you’re succeeding, that you can continue financing existing development projects and drawing up new ones. It would be natural in such a situation to exult in being made stronger for the eventual market rebound.
It’s easier to play the win-win game in politics, yet Clinton did not emphasize enough how successful Turkey’s foreign policy has been in the region, perhaps because Turkey’s gains have come on America’s losses.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan himself has said that Turkey lost social richness and harmony through its purges of religious minorities, so he understands the message. Clinton should have said let’s forget games all together and just do it. That’s proven a winning formula for Nike.
