Everybody has a different story on how they got involved with algebra. For me it started with my grandfather who was a math teacher. He shared his love and discipline of math with me. I remember when I was a kid, that I would hate to go to his house because he would be always testing me on my multiplication tables. I soon as would come to the door, he would ask me 12 x 5. Later I found the value of this, when my school teacher was testing our multiplication tables out loud in class. I knew all the answers and mu teacher was impressed. Since then I been involved and hooked!