My 16-year old niece whines about doing math homework, which from her perspective, seems totally useless in life. I am sympathetic to the genuine agony felt by teenagers droning toward their hormonal destiny. When anything forces their attention away from their sole purpose in life–dating–it couldn’t feel worse.
For most teenagers, math, especially advanced math, is nowhere near as exciting as next Saturday night. But what if math could lead to the ultimate date? Many successful scientists figured out this equation long ago: math homework = exotic travel.