The root of the matter

Today can be described in many ways – most of them through gritted teeth, as we endured our most substantial snowstorm of the “winter” season, which was most definitely supposed to be OVER by now! By the looks of it, we have about 5 slushy, wet inches of white stuff, annoyingly covering up useful surfaces like grass (for Little League baseball) and track (for, well, you know …). But! Rather than turn this into another weather rant post, we’ll make it a math theme, which I know some loyal blog followers will enjoy and appreciate. Today is Square Root Day – 4.4.16. Get it? 4x4 = 16. The square root of 16 = 4. Yeah. That. When my friend and jogging pal Artie pointed this out to me via group text the other day (dude, we’re too OLD for GROUP texts!), it devolved into a sordid discussion of future Square Root Days and who would be alive or dead for them. Let’s see: 5.5.25. Hey. We’re all day-to-day, right? But I would say the odds are decent that we can make it to that one. 6.6.36. Hmmm. Getting closer to the actuary tables now. 7.7.49. The term “long in the tooth” applies there. And finally! 8.8.64 … a few days shy of my 100^th birthday … so, not so likely. In the meantime, let’s get to the root of the matter (get it?): We need to have this snow melting, and quickly. OK!