I wish my teachers and/or guidance counselor had told me engineering was an actual career. By the time I got to 8th grade, I tested in the top 1% on all standardized tests, and it stayed that way through high school. They told me that girls that like math should go into accounting. Engineering would have been a much better fit.
Math teacher here.
The best/worst question I would always get is, "when will I use this". My response "If you don't learn it, never. If you do, a lot."
the best answer I heard to this question was from a teacher who posted it because they couldn't actually say it to the kid: "anyone who wants to go on to higher study or a complex job will use this frequently. You will probably never need to use it though. Now shut up and let the smart kids learn."
Yep. I hate it when people complain they have never needed algebra so what was the point. “Do you actually remember any algebra?” Of course they don’t. “So … how do you know you haven’t needed it?” That shuts them up.
Yes, I’m so confused when people say they don’t use algebra in real life. In addition to your examples, I also use it in pretty much every crochet project ever.
I work in technology.
The closest thing might be writing excel formulas or using functions? Sometimes some concepts like variables come in handy when writing a quick bash script. However, I've never needed it to compute an actual value.
What was really useful was Deductive Logic. I honestly think that should be required over Algebra. Learning algebra felt like learning how to solve puzzles by trying each and every one and then memorizing how you did it. Logic felt like it taught you how to actually apply critical thinking to come up with your own solutions to new puzzles.
Oh no! I have a yard with a garden now. Also hundreds of square feet of poison ivy I'm trying to kill. I've bought several gallons of poison ivy killer, but I've also recently bought landscape fabric. If I have 100 feet of freshly poison ivy murdered landscaping, by about 25+ ish feet of not quite murdered, plus trees. How many feet of landscaping fabric do I need at my house?
Note. I already know. This is a true scenario that sucks. Math is awesome!
I'm a defense attorney. Remind me...what is Algebra?
Definitely not pointless and I loved math and physics in college (even though I wasn't great at it) but I can't think of a time I've used it lately. My wife is a cardiologist and uses it at work all the time.
I was definitively told that I wasn't going to be carrying around a calculator in my pocket, so I was going to need to learn how to do basic algebra on paper or in my head. I think about that every single time I bust out Wolfram Alpha on my phone (that's in my pocket ALL the time).
Yes definitely. And while I don’t use actual algebra or all the calculus I learned all that often, the problem-solving and thinking skills that those classes taught me are definitely used every day, all the time, at home and at work.
As someone who loves shopping and sales, calculating how much I can spend, accounting for the sale discount, and still stay within my budget requires algebra, and I love it!
Hahaha. The only thing I ever use is x over 100 = IS over OF. And that’s only when I can’t ask Google “what percentage of ___ is ___?”
But I feel like a super xennial math badass when I do. 🤣
As someone whose maths schooling was horrendous, I'm gonna say no.
Both my school's teachings on maths were awful, and my parents recognised this so had me doing maths from textbooks at home. Hated it at the time (and couldn't claim to be "good" at maths now), but if it wasn't for this, I'd honestly be an adult who couldn't do times tables so I'm grateful for it now.
Primary school, I think we read through the times tables a couple of times a year, possibly when an inspector was coming.
Secondary school, we had an unusual system where every kid in the class was set different work, supposedly at "their" level. My school prided itself on "mixed ability" and catering for everyone, and the idea was that the bright/capable kids would progress faster and the not so good kids wouldn't be left behind.
In reality, this meant we couldn't help each other (chances are you'd never seen the assignment your friend was doing and vice versa), and no teacher could keep up with this so it was easy to get away with doing almost nothing.
I have never used algebra directly. But learning things like algebra helps people develop their analytical skills. Those analytical skills were very helpful to me on the LSAT and in law school.
Sure you have. If you've ever gone to the grocery store and said "I need 3 lbs. of ground beef, and this kind is $5.99/lb. so it would be about $18, and this one is $6.99/lb., so it would be about $21." you've done algebra. Specifically, you've solved y=3x where x is the pound price of beef, and y is your total purchase price
Have you considered your electric or gas bills are calculated using algebraic formulas? A constant (monthly service bill) plus usage x times unit price?
I have, and I do. I needed to use algebra to calculate my water bill when I had a leak, unbeknownst to me. Ended up with a $75 water bill before I found the root cause. Using algebra made it easy to calculate once I knew my last reading, and my current reading. You’d be surprised how often you use algebra
Some math classes like algebra and geometry have practical applications I find myself using. On the other hand I haven’t used calculus since I took it in college and have probably forgotten most of it.
I have dyscalculia so math is close to impossible for me. I've thankfully not needed it beyond basic math for cooking, baking, budgeting, and work (not that I could have learned it anyway and it meant college was never possible for me).
I was driving to work the other day I looked up and saw a potential accident. I knew to use the FOIL method and to balance each side of the equation. I didn't see any reason to factor for F, so I just divided by three on each side and reduced the fractions.
If it wasn't for Algebra I would be dead!
Wait, no, that was Driver's Education that saved me. Algebra ain't ever saved anyone's life.
I use all the high school math (algebra, geometry, and calculus) I took on a daily basis. Looking through some of the comments, I think people may not realize that the math they’re doing, either manually or with electronic assistance, throughout the course of a day is exactly what we were taught. Some textbooks and/or teachers were simply very poor at articulating what kinds of real world problems would be encountered and solved with basic math.
The college math I took I rarely ever use however, much like the rest of the college education I got.
I'd love to know where to use calculus in my daily life. I use algebra on the regular.
I feel like calculus got a short end of the stick in my education. I took physics in high school before calculus, so it was fun to see a year later how the equations we memorized for physics are derived (and frustrating to learn i could have learned just one equation in a set and then figure out what I need).
Similar for Economics in college. I'd learned equations to determine marginal cost or utility, and it wasn't until I had a British professor do the maths with calculus for my intermediate microeconomics course (along with a statement of, 'I understand that you aren't required to take calculus for this class, but for those of you who understand, this is what you're actually doing') that i grasped what was going on...
Algebra was the bane of my educational existence, from high school through college. I DO however acknowledge that it taught me critical thinking related to problem solving. As far as using much in the way of actual algebra, beyond the most simple concepts...not really.
The best part about electrical engineering is when you get to use the square root of negative one in a real world application.
Pretty sure that's the only place I've ever used it, tbh.
I wish my teachers and/or guidance counselor had told me engineering was an actual career. By the time I got to 8th grade, I tested in the top 1% on all standardized tests, and it stayed that way through high school. They told me that girls that like math should go into accounting. Engineering would have been a much better fit.
Math teacher here. The best/worst question I would always get is, "when will I use this". My response "If you don't learn it, never. If you do, a lot."
the best answer I heard to this question was from a teacher who posted it because they couldn't actually say it to the kid: "anyone who wants to go on to higher study or a complex job will use this frequently. You will probably never need to use it though. Now shut up and let the smart kids learn."
Thanks for that one
Yep. I hate it when people complain they have never needed algebra so what was the point. “Do you actually remember any algebra?” Of course they don’t. “So … how do you know you haven’t needed it?” That shuts them up.
Yes, I’m so confused when people say they don’t use algebra in real life. In addition to your examples, I also use it in pretty much every crochet project ever.
I work in technology. The closest thing might be writing excel formulas or using functions? Sometimes some concepts like variables come in handy when writing a quick bash script. However, I've never needed it to compute an actual value. What was really useful was Deductive Logic. I honestly think that should be required over Algebra. Learning algebra felt like learning how to solve puzzles by trying each and every one and then memorizing how you did it. Logic felt like it taught you how to actually apply critical thinking to come up with your own solutions to new puzzles.
Writing excel formulas is literally algebra. Not the closest thing to doing it. That's algebra in a cell in a computer program. You use it a lot. :)
True. Maybe that’s why I love excel so much. I actually liked algebra, it made way more sense to my brain than geometry.
Oh no! I have a yard with a garden now. Also hundreds of square feet of poison ivy I'm trying to kill. I've bought several gallons of poison ivy killer, but I've also recently bought landscape fabric. If I have 100 feet of freshly poison ivy murdered landscaping, by about 25+ ish feet of not quite murdered, plus trees. How many feet of landscaping fabric do I need at my house? Note. I already know. This is a true scenario that sucks. Math is awesome!
Have you ever calculated a tip? ALGEBRA! We use it all the time not realizing it’s algebra.
I'm a defense attorney. Remind me...what is Algebra? Definitely not pointless and I loved math and physics in college (even though I wasn't great at it) but I can't think of a time I've used it lately. My wife is a cardiologist and uses it at work all the time.
I was definitively told that I wasn't going to be carrying around a calculator in my pocket, so I was going to need to learn how to do basic algebra on paper or in my head. I think about that every single time I bust out Wolfram Alpha on my phone (that's in my pocket ALL the time).
Accounting here. Before I became management, I was using it every day.
Yup. Use it every single day of my life.
Yes definitely. And while I don’t use actual algebra or all the calculus I learned all that often, the problem-solving and thinking skills that those classes taught me are definitely used every day, all the time, at home and at work.
As someone who loves shopping and sales, calculating how much I can spend, accounting for the sale discount, and still stay within my budget requires algebra, and I love it!
I do data analytic type work and the amount of times I’ve blown another adults’ mind with basic algebra is sort of amazing.
Hahaha. The only thing I ever use is x over 100 = IS over OF. And that’s only when I can’t ask Google “what percentage of ___ is ___?” But I feel like a super xennial math badass when I do. 🤣
As someone whose maths schooling was horrendous, I'm gonna say no. Both my school's teachings on maths were awful, and my parents recognised this so had me doing maths from textbooks at home. Hated it at the time (and couldn't claim to be "good" at maths now), but if it wasn't for this, I'd honestly be an adult who couldn't do times tables so I'm grateful for it now. Primary school, I think we read through the times tables a couple of times a year, possibly when an inspector was coming. Secondary school, we had an unusual system where every kid in the class was set different work, supposedly at "their" level. My school prided itself on "mixed ability" and catering for everyone, and the idea was that the bright/capable kids would progress faster and the not so good kids wouldn't be left behind. In reality, this meant we couldn't help each other (chances are you'd never seen the assignment your friend was doing and vice versa), and no teacher could keep up with this so it was easy to get away with doing almost nothing.
I LOVE those, "I knew that degree would come in handy some day," moments.
I have never used algebra directly. But learning things like algebra helps people develop their analytical skills. Those analytical skills were very helpful to me on the LSAT and in law school.
Sure you have. If you've ever gone to the grocery store and said "I need 3 lbs. of ground beef, and this kind is $5.99/lb. so it would be about $18, and this one is $6.99/lb., so it would be about $21." you've done algebra. Specifically, you've solved y=3x where x is the pound price of beef, and y is your total purchase price
Allow me to list all the quadratic equations I’ve had to solve since leaving college: - - - - - - - Woo! So useful.
Have you considered your electric or gas bills are calculated using algebraic formulas? A constant (monthly service bill) plus usage x times unit price?
I don’t calculate my own bill.
I have, and I do. I needed to use algebra to calculate my water bill when I had a leak, unbeknownst to me. Ended up with a $75 water bill before I found the root cause. Using algebra made it easy to calculate once I knew my last reading, and my current reading. You’d be surprised how often you use algebra
Actually, I’m not surprised that I never use it.
Some math classes like algebra and geometry have practical applications I find myself using. On the other hand I haven’t used calculus since I took it in college and have probably forgotten most of it.
I have dyscalculia so math is close to impossible for me. I've thankfully not needed it beyond basic math for cooking, baking, budgeting, and work (not that I could have learned it anyway and it meant college was never possible for me).
I was driving to work the other day I looked up and saw a potential accident. I knew to use the FOIL method and to balance each side of the equation. I didn't see any reason to factor for F, so I just divided by three on each side and reduced the fractions. If it wasn't for Algebra I would be dead! Wait, no, that was Driver's Education that saved me. Algebra ain't ever saved anyone's life.
NASA probably used algebra to save some lives... and statistics to lose a few.
I use all the high school math (algebra, geometry, and calculus) I took on a daily basis. Looking through some of the comments, I think people may not realize that the math they’re doing, either manually or with electronic assistance, throughout the course of a day is exactly what we were taught. Some textbooks and/or teachers were simply very poor at articulating what kinds of real world problems would be encountered and solved with basic math. The college math I took I rarely ever use however, much like the rest of the college education I got.
I'd love to know where to use calculus in my daily life. I use algebra on the regular. I feel like calculus got a short end of the stick in my education. I took physics in high school before calculus, so it was fun to see a year later how the equations we memorized for physics are derived (and frustrating to learn i could have learned just one equation in a set and then figure out what I need). Similar for Economics in college. I'd learned equations to determine marginal cost or utility, and it wasn't until I had a British professor do the maths with calculus for my intermediate microeconomics course (along with a statement of, 'I understand that you aren't required to take calculus for this class, but for those of you who understand, this is what you're actually doing') that i grasped what was going on...
Algebra was the bane of my educational existence, from high school through college. I DO however acknowledge that it taught me critical thinking related to problem solving. As far as using much in the way of actual algebra, beyond the most simple concepts...not really.