Skip to main content

Why do I have to study math when I don't need it in real-life?

 Why should I learn math when I won't use it in "real life?" Half of all parents are asked this question.

You should learn math. Here are a few points to consider. These are all points I’ve made to students over the years who don’t see math class as relevant to their future life.

·        Learning math problems is good training for problem-solving, tasks on which you will spend your entire life. It helps with critical thinking in a simple environment. It forces you to think within a set of rules, and to be realistic rather than emotional

·        Most of the problems in real life are far more complex than the easy ones in math class. You have to learn the easy stuff before the complicated stuff. (That is, you have to learn to walk before you can run.)

·        Math is becoming more and more important in almost every area from science to business. Even bricklayers need to know quite a bit of math in planning a job. Try and schedule airlines to optimize profit and convenience without knowing math. You can’t.

·        “I’ll learn it if I need to use or know it.” We answer this with “How do you know you’ll need it if you don’t know it’s there? Problems don’t come to you with a roadmap of how to solve them.

·        In applying for a job, it’s more than appearance on which you are hired. Those with the best knowledge base are always preferred. Show them you have had lots of math and (secretly) you know Excel* very well, then you be competitive. You don’t want to compete with an AI program, do you? No math and you could lose this face-off.

·        You could ask the same question about taking history. Who uses history on the job in real life? But knowing history is indirectly important in understanding human nature and international relations. Want to skip that, too?

 

*More important than you might think. knowing Excel implies a knowledge of basic math. Want a quick graph of data? Know Excel. Want to sort information? Know Excel. Want to find a trendline? Know Excel.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Please Comment.

Popular posts from this blog

Human Simulation is Possible - by Humans

  Human Simulation: Agent-Based Modeling and the Computational Case for Our Reality   1.       Introduction In the essay, we introduce the notion that humanity could be a deliberate simulation based on an extremely simple single-celled organism, hardly anything more complex than that. This will allow an (apparently) new interpretation of the notion that humanity is simulated, but that there is no master engineer at a massive number of dials and switches, responsible for every twist and turn of our universe and lives. We begin with the notion that the universe exists and operates under its own laws. So, given the Earth [2] , when and where life first began, it was infused with a living agent, self-actualized, reproductive, and with other basic rules for its operations, interactions, and much of what single-celled organisms do today. The idea from this occurred some years back when writing code in ActionScript (formerly Flash), I was able to create...
2 comments
Read more

No Sympathy From Me

Suicide Coming Home Many years ago, a friend hung himself in his basement.  I was a pall-bearer at his funeral. I was shocked I was so asked.  I did this.  I did not understand why a good-looking fellow, intelligent, kindly, and true could do such a thing. He did. I do not.  His family suffered greatly.  Yet he left no issue.   Thankfully. To my mind Country singer Mindy McCready, 37, showed us the very height of personal selfishness by committing suicide.  By giving birth to two offspring, she accepted the responsibility to raise her newborn and six-year old son.  She abrogated it spectacularly.  (As did the father a month ago.)  Though she may have suffered depression for any number of reasons, she has little sympathy from me for leaving behind a legacy that is now lost, is now parent-less, and may drift into problems of their own in the future.    There is shame and heartbreak in all this, but blame should be...
1 comment
Read more

UNCERTAINTY IS CERTAIN

  Uncertainty is Certain G. Donald Allen 12/12/2024 1.       Introduction . This short essay is about uncertainty in people from both secular and nonsecular viewpoints. One point that will emerge is that randomly based uncertainty can be a driver for religious structure. Many groups facing uncertainty about their future are deeply religious or rely on faith as a source of comfort, resilience, and guidance. The intersection of uncertainty and religiosity often stems from the human need to find meaning, hope, and stability in the face of unpredictable or challenging circumstances. We first take up the connections of uncertainty to religion for the first real profession, farming, noting that hunting has many similar uncertainties. Below are groups that commonly lean on religious beliefs amidst uncertainty.   This short essay is a follow-up to a previous piece on certainty (https://used-ideas.blogspot.com/2024/12/certainty-is-also-emotion.html). U...
Post a Comment
Read more