Let's talk about mathematics...with apologies to Salt-N-Pepa...
---What do you think about mathematics?
---Do you still do any math, and if so, what?
---Does your job/career involve doing math?
---When you went to school, what mathematics courses did you take?
---What do you think about how they were taught?
---How easy or hard were they?
---How hard did you work in them?
---Was/is mathematics interesting to you?
---What is your favorite area in mathematics? What is your least favorite?
---What was the most "advanced" course of math that you took?
---How much of the mathematics you learned in school do you still remember?
---How much of it have you used since leaving school?
---Do you think that mathematical proficiency puffs up some people's egos while difficulty in the field deflates others?
---Do you believe that there is absolutely no ego within mathematics itself?
---Do you see people who bring up mathematical ideas as trying to impress others?
---Can you "speak" math, that is express concepts, equations and diagrams verbally with a fair degree of approximation?
---If you spotted somebody out in a coffee shop studying math and the two of you struck up a conversation, would you automatically ask them what it was for?
---Do you think people have to be studying "for" something when they study something like mathematics?
---If people respect the etiquette of not interrupting someone when they are watching a two-hour movie, should they also respect the wish of that same person to be left alone for a half hour studying mathematics?
---If you randomly brought up mathematics in conversation with others, would you feel awkward?
---Do you feel awkward reading this article about mathematics?
---Do you think this is too provocative a topic for Salt-N-Pepa to sing about?
Of course, I have opinions about all these questions and more and plan to give my own answers sometime down the line...
