Mathematics and Life Issues

Right from my primary school days, I have learnt that Mathematics as a subject crawls on four limbs (addition, subtraction, division and multiplication).

This principle is so fascinating that everything I learnt on the subject from Primary One to Higher Institution was hampered on these four principles; no matter how elaborate the topic – and for the purpose of this write-up, I am going to capitalise on figure 10.

i)    Addition (aka plus) means accumulation or increment together with.

Therefore, 10 + 10 = 20

ii)   Subtraction (or minus) means deduction, taking away or less.

Therefore, 10 – 10 = 0

iii)  Division (or divide) means sharing into places, partition or distribution.

Therefore, 10 ÷ 10 = 1

iv)  Multiplication (or product) means escalating duplication or times reproduction.

Therefore, 10 x 10 = 100

Any life that is lived on subtraction will never increase. It will continuously decrease. This is the reason why some people are always sad. They are in a relationship that depletes their worth. They work in an establishment that sucks their strengths. They engage in activities that take everything from them, leave them with nothing. They go into business only to have something to go by. The minus people are only existing and not living. They have no corresponding effects for their applied efforts. They aged and not grow.

The division people are always dividing. They share what they gather and keep reducing. If they have ten incomes, they have ten ways of lavishing it – and all they can lay hold on is less than they bargain for.

The plus people are increasing at an ‘as well as’ rate. Their outputs only correspond with their inputs. They may appear to be doing great to some close allies but they themselves know they are not where they ought to be. If these people are in trade; they keep selling to the same set of people and they keep growing at a slow pace like a snail. They will get to the top but it might take eternity before they can achieve their goals.

The multiplication people are forever increasing at a productive rate that defies understanding. Their growth is rapid, swift and consistent. They are the movers-and-shakers. They are not only spreading their tentacles, they are also making use of most opportunities that come their ways.

For the purpose of this write-up; I am going to capitalise on addition and multiplication.

To excel, you should either be adding or multiplying but I will advise you to multiply.

Those who add keep their vision and expertise to themselves. They are afraid of people stealing their ideas and so they operate from a small domain for several years in order to remain the champion. It is good when people tell them about the quality of what they deliver but it is bad because they could do better and become more.

Those who multiply on the other hand are never afraid to share their visions with others. They are forever willing to teach others their expertise. They are never satisfied with small. Their targets are always massive. They want more. They involve more people. They share their benefits with more people and so others help them bear the headache. They generate more income as well because of their belief in the maxim, ‘The more, the merrier.’

When I was a grammar school chap, there was this baker that made wonderful confectionaries at a bus stop very close to my school. Students who could afford the good life would patronise her for rich meat-pies, palatable scotch-eggs and crunchy rolls. This was in the mid-80s when fast-food joints in Lagos could be counted on the fingertips. It was a shocker for me when I passed by the area recently. The woman had aged. The shop was still what it used to be; the only glaring change was that the showcase was no longer wooden but aluminium. I doubt if she had any branch anywhere. I don’t know if she had trained anyone about her secret recipes.

Many of us are like that confectionary woman. We want the fruit but we don’t want to get on the limb. We want more but we do not want to risk more. We dream more and execute less. We were just satisfied with our addition model. That woman may have made more than ten million naira in the space of 30 years that I know her but she could have made a multiple of that (say at least ten billion naira) had she involved more hands to share in the profit and expenses.

I have met some great guys who dream of riches but live in penury. There are more guys who sit on goldmine and spend nickel. Many of us are rich of ideas but poor in cash. We do not really understand the principle of mathematics and for many of us who are good in mathematics, our application of the subject to real life issue is poor.

I love Bible stories, not because I am a Christian but because it narrates the pitfalls and shortcomings of ordinary guys that became extraordinary heroes. Take for example the great Moses. He led about 3 million people out of a country in a day. He was a President without election, a Prime-Minister without a cabinet and a Royalty without nobles. He relished in unquestionable authority and whatever he decreed was final – but he lacked managerial skills.

One day, his father-in-law (Jethro) visited him in the wilderness, saw the trouble the guy was putting himself through; counselling the people and judging every case in his court from dawn to dusk. The old man said to Moses, "The thing that you do is not good. Both you and these people who are with you will surely wear yourselves out ... this is too much for you; you are not able to perform it by yourself ...  Stand before God for the people, so that you may bring the difficulties to God and you shall teach them the statutes and the laws, and show them the way ... and the work they must do ... select from all the people able men ... place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens and let them judge the people at all times. Then it will be that every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they themselves shall judge. So it will be easier for you, for they will bear the burden with you. If you do this thing ... you will be able to endure, and this entire people will also go to their place in peace.” (Read Exodus 18: 1 – 24)

The Bible says, Moses lived to be 120 years old. I doubt it if the guy would have ever lived for that long if not for his wise father-in-law’s advice.

Do you want more? Train more people. Empower more people. Don’t just give them responsibilities; give them authorities also.

It is a great wickedness if a man should discover a cure for AIDS or cancer and keep it to himself. He is not doing humanity any good and he is not adding any value to himself. What some of us need right now is applying multiplication model – by mass-producing your products to reach more people.

There is this story I heard about the popular soda drink, Coca-Cola. Initially, the drink was sold in a vending machine and the sales were limited to a certain community – but one day, one of the sales boys walked up to the manufacturer and told him, “I have an idea that can triple your sales and give you wider coverage.” The owner asked for what the idea was and the sales-boy, after negotiating for a commission said, “Bottle it!”

That singular idea was probably the reason why we could enjoy Coke in Africa today – but there are several manufacturers in Nigeria who are yet to expand their scopes, not willing to spend more on researches and are therefore limited in reaching potential customers. Since I was a kid, I had eaten groundnut cake (kuli-kuli) but each time I travelled out of Nigeria, I am yet to see kuli-kuli in their stores. Zobo (juice extract of Bissap leaf) and ginger-beer are drink that everybody – including teetotallers – can drink but Africans are yet to harness this gift of nature by turning it into mega businesses.

The key word for multiplication is mass-production. Any success without a successor is a failure.