
I was at the TRW Swap Meet in the South Bay, soaking up the local color of ham radio operators, electronics enthusiasts, and other miscellaneous misfits (although I was probably the only Physics Groupie in the crowd). I was browsing the selection of the only remaining used book seller for math, physics and astronomy titles. My concentration was interrupted when I heard a loud voice ask the proprietor “Off the top of your head, do you have any advanced mathematics books?” This comment was a non sequitur because of who was asking – a young Hispanic man with that distinctive East LA accent, tattoos, baggy clothes, shaved head. I was intrigued. The proprietor did a double take as well and mustered up a response, “Well, yes, I’m sure I do but what general area, maybe engineering?” The patron continued “Yea something like that. I was doing some Laplace transforms.”
OK, I love it when I witness mathematics out of context like that. It excites me. Somewhere, somehow, this unlikely mathematician learned some real math maybe in some “Stand and Deliver” type environment. So I had to figure this out. After chatting with the young man a bit, I found out he was enrolled in Los Angeles City College (LACC), a community college nearby the Griffith Observatory, and he indeed was taking a differential equations class. He had aspirations of getting into mechanical engineering.
I reflected on this random occurrence for some time and came to the conclusion that when it comes to math and physics, you shouldn’t judge a book by it baggy pants. Viva la mathematics!
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