Mathematics Online Magazine

Mathematics proves useful in many fields of study while in school. As any student of music can tell you, one must understand mathematical relationships to read music (e.g., a sixteenth note is half as long as an eighth note, but twice as long as a thirty-second note). Furthermore, a student of musical theory must understand the mathematical relationships among the different pitches. Although music is not a vital for understanding the world, the world generally agrees that it is a good thing to understand. Another ‘nonessential’ course that uses mathematics is art. Many geometrical relationships come into play in many varieties of art. Colors also have mathematical relationships with one another. Systems such as the Red Green Blue system or the Tint Brightness Shade system classify the color spectrum using mathematical values. But the arts are not the only subjects that use mathematics. What would science be without mathematics? Many scientific experiments rely upon qualitative comparisons (i.e., measurements). Coordinate geometry helps to display the relationships between an independent variable (perhaps time, or an experimental group) and a dependent variable (the result). These relationships often take the form of quadratic and other polynomial equations, trigonometric equations, exponential and logarithmic equations, and other common mathematical relations. To model values, one must have a fairly good knowledge of mathematical relations. Model equations predict values of the experiment in untested situations. This is all nice to know, but how are we *really* going to use it?

Many occupations require the use of mathematics. All the scientific uses above apply in the scientific fields of the real world. Any field in the culinary arts will use mathematics; proportion is essential to good cooking. Speaking of proportion, architects use mathematics in many ways. Conic sections are quite popular with architects, along with other geometric figures. Not only do they have to make everything pleasing to the eye, they must calculate the weight distribution and make sure that the structure will not fall. The construction workers must be able to understand the measurements and specifications for their work. Accountants and bankers must meticulously use tons and tons of arithmetic and certain functions to do their everyday jobs. Different computer programmers all tend to deal with different branches of mathematics. This is only a brief sampling of all the work out there requiring mathematics. Mathematics is essential to many fields, but how much do we have to know?

Calculators are here, and they can do for us many of the things we once accomplished only by hand. Arithmetic becomes very simple with a calculator on call; just punch in the numbers, and the answer comes and stares you in the face. Does this mean that we should stop learning how to calculate simple arithmetic? To answer this question, think about how tedious your life would be if you needed to turn to a calculator every time you needed to add (e.g., counting cash to give to a store, any number of problems in higher math, etc.). Our graphing calculators can draw nifty graphs for us. These graphs are important in understanding many mathematical situations, but if the user of the calculator does not know what the graphs mean, they are as worthless as they would be if they did not exist. Calculators are helpful tools, but they only augment human knowledge; they cannot replace it.
The skills that mathematics helps us to learn extend far beyond the ability to solve mathematics problems. Problem solving skills are invaluable in all walks of life. Who wishes to deny that we have problems in nearly everything that we do? Although the mathematics itself does not always help us to solve our problems, some of the skills we use in mathematics do help. In mathematics class, we learn to think quickly and to solve problems under pressure. We learn to analyze a problem logically until we arrive at a valid method for finding the solution. These skills come in handy in many situations that call upon our sharp thinking, and allow us to handle problems better than those who’ve had less mathematics instruction would. Mathematics increases our ability to think.
Overall, the acquisition of mathematics skills is not pointless, and is in fact useful in the long run. I think I’ve just about run out of inspiration, so I’ll go study now.