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Phrase: Do the math
We can’t always depend on others to tell us what to do or make decisions for us.
We have to do the math for ourselves.
We have to figure things out on our own.
If we need to decide, we have to gather all of the information, make a spreadsheet or whatever you prefer, and make up our minds.
Do the math is a phrase often used when people are exasperated by others’ inability to figure things out.
Let’s imagine a husband and wife arguing over money.
The husband is very much into golf and wants to invest in a costly set of golf clubs.
The wife knows that it’s a bad decision at the moment due to financial constraints.
The husband is a dedicated husband and father, plus an extremely hard worker.
He believes he deserves the golf clubs.
Like any married couple with children, they have mortgage and car payments, the kids need new school uniforms, the refrigerator is on the fritz, and the family car is due for its licensing inspection later this summer.
It’s sad to say, but golf clubs are not in the picture.
Eventually, the wife becomes angry and fed up discussing something that can’t happen.
She tells her husband, “Hey, you’ve got a house, car, three kids and a wife. You make ¥350,000 per month. You do the math! Golf clubs are not happening this year, next year or within the next five years. So get it out of your head now!”
Yes, it’s a sad story.
The father deserves the golf clubs; everybody knows he does, but when you do the math, things don’t add up.
Sometimes, life gets in the way of our plans.
The things we want out of life sometimes don’t add up when we do the math.
Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test
This post is understandable by someone with at least a 7th-grade education (age 12).
On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 79.
The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.