X is for Unknown
What makes the letter X so important? Think about all the words you know that start with the letter X. Not many are there? I can think of x-ray, xylophone, xenophobia, Xanadu, the element xenon, to mention a few. That’s about it. You can pick any other letter and if I asked you to think up words that start with that letter, you would have no problem, with the exceptions of possibly Z and Q.
Yet the letter X is one of our most important letters. Why do I say that? Think about where the letter X is used most often. Whenever you are solving a problem in math, what is the letter that is usually chosen to represent your answer? Instructions: “Solve for X.” Of all the letters of the alphabet, X is the one that is most often used. Even though when I taught math, I always told the class that an unknown can be represented by any letter, that all-important ‘X’ was the one that was usually chosen. And in most examples, it is the lower case ‘x’ that is the preferred version. If you needed a second variable, no doubt ‘y’ followed by ‘z’ were the preferred choices.
I’m sure there are a number of you skeptics out there that feel the unknown number most used is ‘n’, however, my research has shown otherwise. Please don’t ask me for my sources as they are personal and I had to sign an NDA (Nondisclosure agreement) with a very important legal firm.
There are other important uses of the letter ‘X’. How else would you find a pirate’s 
hidden treasure, if you didn’t have a map, where ‘X’ marked the spot. No other letter marks the spot. Personally I think that O should mark the spot allowing you a broader area to search in, giving you a better chance of finding what you’re looking for, rather than the exact spot. And there was the classic treasure scene in the movie, “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” where the treasure is under the Big W, not an X.
And why is the game Tic-Tac-Toe played with X’s and O’s. Why not B’s and R’s for Black and Red or symbols like Checks (?) and Dollar signs (?). The game Score Four is played with disks of red and yellow.
The letter ‘X’ is clearly an important letter. X’s are something to strive for. X’s give you wealth (treasure maps), X’s give you success (3 in a row in Tic-Tac-Toe), and demonstrate your great detective skills (Solve for X). So you should feel good about the letter X and its importance in our world.
Therefore I propose that in order to keep the letter X, as the positive sign for accomplishing good things, that we, from this day forward, adopt the letter ‘H’ as the one chosen to mark things we do wrong. Abandon any negative connections to the letter X that say you did something bad. Replace it with a letter that stands for Help, which you surely need when you make a mistake.
That’s my plan and I’m sticking to it. Who’s with me?
I’m with you on the importance of X. I’m not so sure about using H to mark mistakes. I think you need something quicker and easier when you’re grading papers. Actually, maybe an O would work for that, especially when you circle the actual part where the problem is.
(Click the Blog link on the second row) : X is for Cross
Agreed. I like the idea of using O.