Ok.. so I'm late on this subject here.. but anyways... just thought I would put my two cents in.. @Tofu: You'd be surprised how many people you are going to run into that have no clue how to balance a chemical equation... i knew people in my engineering classes that couldnt do it... that was just insane.. 24 year old engineering majors.. that had no clue how to balance an equation??... @malarkie: I actually had a person ask me once.... "but.. i dont get it.. where does the x come from?".. i was speechless... That Evaders, and they focus on teaching to a stupid state test (i.e. TAAS now known as TAKS in texas) that has little more than basic knowledge on it. Seriously, when I took that thing.. it was basic algebra, english comprehension and writing that was it. It was sad, and here thats all the schools are teaching to for the first two years of high school, then after that you can skim by on the classes like "Math of money".. yes.. learning how to count coins.. its so ridiculous that high schools in this nation are producing graduates that can barely pass seventh grade math, and even worse that the G.E.D. offered as an equivalency to a high school degree has just about as much on it as an eighth grade test...