A while back, I studied some math. By the way, the real word is mathematics, but most people typically just say "math", especially if they are behind in their math homework and don't have time for all those syllables.
I think I'm pretty good at the really low-level math, say, "Algebra I". But I've studied higher levels than that.
I'm thinking of explaining Algebra I. That's why I created this blog. It's for explaining Algebra I. However, this one post only talks around the general topic of math in everyday life.
I already had 3 blogs but their titles didn't fit this topic. So I thought, "Font Of Wisdom" as a title for this new blog. As an address, "FontOfWisdom" was already taken, so I put "UnfontOfWisdom" and nobody had taken that address yet.
I considered "Font Of Unwisdom" as the title. But I think "Font Of Wisdom" fits better. It was a close race but Wisdom won by a nose.
In everyday life I use addition and subtraction, because I buy things and look at whether I have enough money. Sometimes I use multiplication and division. When people ask me what math is used for, I can honestly say I once used calculus on the job (I had to figure out what the derivative or integral was, for some function); and, for a while, I used base 16 a lot on the job. (It was a job involving reading computer printouts and debugging programs or deciphering mysterious data.) (People working on the same computer used matrices a lot; those are rows and columns of numbers; and in some kinds of jobs you can do a lot with those; and it's a topic taught in college, called Linear Algebra, which means matrix algebra.) However, in my opinion, the only obviously useful math for everyday life is just the basic arithmetic: addition, subtraction, and sometimes multiplication or division.
One might possibly get by with just addition. The other three (subtraction, multiplication, and division) are built on addition, so if you just understand addition, you could work your way through the rest of it.
Addition itself is based one something yet more basic: Counting. If you can count, then you can figure out how to add. For example, to calculate 5 + 3, you count like this: 5, 6, 7, 8, and after you've said 3 numbers after the 5, that's what 5 + 3 is. It's 8. You could do it on your fingers.
But for most people, they can do it a lot faster if they have memorized the addition tables, and then they don't have to count up every time they want to add something.
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So why should so many people study math higher than basic arithmetic? I have about five answers to that question. At least the first three are true answers.
My first answer is: "because other people think it's worth something". Knowing math is a step toward getting jobs, getting better jobs, and getting paid more money. (Obviously it's not the only way, but it is one way, to get better jobs and more money.) Employers think your knowing math is worth something in this process. They are probably right, somehow, but just why they are right often seems shrouded in mystery. I, myself, am actually paid more money because I studied math. At one point in my working life, the personnel office where I worked asked me to list what classes I had taken, and the result was that they classified me as someone worth more pay, and they paid me it.
I wish I were better in math at higher levels. Fortunately, I have enough of it to get by. Perhaps some day I'll study more and get better at higher levels.
My second answer is: "because it's interesting". It's interesting in the way solving a puzzle, or having a good conversation, or accomplishing something, is interesting. However, not everyone thinks it's interesting.
My third answer is: "It really is useful for some things", and that includes communicating with other people who have also studied math -- they sometimes use mathematical thoughts to describe things, and you have a lot better chance of understanding and communicating back if you too have learned the concepts in math.
Practical math, higher than basic arithmetic, typically works like this: If you do a thing only one time, on a small scale, you don't need much math at all. For example, if you want to know how old your sister is, you could just ask her, and be done with it. But if she's not around, you might remember that she's six years older than you are, and if you're, say, 42, then 42 + 6 = 48 which is her age. (There. We used some arithmetic. Next, we'll get into the algebra part of it.)
But if, for some reason, you have to track her age frequently, then you might start using a formula such as x + 6 where x is your age at any given time and x + 6 is her age at that time. If you're working for a life insurance company and studying the ages of many people, then you're probably going to use some more complicated formula to describe ages and expected rates of deaths, and then another formula will be used to calculate how much money a person should pay for the insurance.
For you though, sitting at a desk in the life insurance company, you're probably just going to push buttons on a computer and the correct answer will come out, without you knowing any of the underlying formulas. Or maybe you'll know a little, but not much.
But somebody had to understand and develop those formulas and put them into the computer. That's the person who really understands that math; and the rest of you will understand your jobs better if you sort-of know what the formulas mean.
If you didn't know any math at all, then you might make a dumb mistake, like pressing the wrong button, and getting a wild answer, and not realizing it, and probably being embarrassed, or possibly being liable, or fired, later.
My fourth answer is: "transfer of learning", which means that if you exercise your mind in one area, it will improve your mind in other areas. This answer is probably true but I cannot be sure of it. Some people do quite well without much math at all, but learning math does seem generally helpful as a healthful exercise for the mind.
My fifth answer is that if you understand Algebra then you can study higher levels of math such as Statistics and Probability (and Calculus, and Linear Algebra, and so on), and if you understand basic concepts in Statistics and Probability then you can think better about risk.
Thinking well about risk is pretty important, sometimes even for everyday life, but especially if you have some leadership position where you have to make decisions involving risk, or even if you just want to vote responsibly in elections, because in elections there are often arguments about issues involving risks.
Also, with some understanding of Statistics and Probability under your belt, you can occasionally understand when some so-called "experts" are tricking you, or when they're just not making good arguments. The saying goes like this: "There are lies, damned lies, and statistics." But really there's nothing wrong with Statistics itself; the problem is that it's often mis-used and poorly understood.
As for experts, lately I've been reading that they are usually wrong.
So maybe they're not _really_ experts.
-jrl, June 3, 2015, 6:23 p.m.
