The value of maths

Essential in so much of what I do! The application of maths has supported my endeavours through all my projects and writing.  In research terms, this application is referred to as quantitative data. At the start of my manuscript, I had envisaged that most of my writing would apply a qualitative approach which is techniques used for documenting ‘human stories’ within daily life.  

However, as I progress what is emerging from my research/writing on the lives of father’s Kowhaea (mother) and Tupuna Wahine (grandmother and great-grandmother) is what is evident in the dates that define their lives. What are they telling me? To answer this, I needed to apply quantitative techniques and figures. 

By doing so has been enlightening, thought-provoking and confronting. More importantly, the need for a specific chapter leading into the actual “tale/s” about these three women. Their influential thread/s passed down that may emerge, in the shaping of father's formative years as I explore further.

For example, the three women ascendants in father’s Whakapapa, average lifetime was 40 years of age. His mother Keita died at age 46.

When I reapplied the maths to five of Keita's six daughters their average lifetime was also 46 years one generation on.  At the top end of that maths equation was daughter Atarangi (Ada) who lived till 74 and Keita's youngest daughter Rihi (Lizzy) died at 32 years of age. This is mirrored in the literature of their times.

In the context of this manuscript, these insights provide opportunities to link or establish a framework to gain a sense of father’s “truth”. They are telling statistics on a small but meaningful sample!

Raising my awareness about names and places over the last 2 months enables me to locate or align Father’s recordings and Aunty Rita’s letters to their whakapapa (family tree). More importantly, to join the dots as I travel this path of writing.

Reflection on the lives and times of these women and the journey it is taking me on is a privilege. 

Go well in the forthcoming week.