Counting the Ways Math is Used Everyday!

It may be during third grade multiplication tables, it may not be until seventh grade algebra but at some point everyone asks "Why do I need to study math?"! Hardly ever is the answer convincing enough to make hitting the books FUN!

Sure, math leads to careers like accounting, computer science - and certainly architecture but what if you are planning to be a lawyer, a cook, a taxi cab driver or a doctor? It is still safe to say, you will use math no matter what you do!

Add up the results of these three experiments and you will have counted a few ways math is used everyday.

Experiment No. 1

Pick six people you know who do seemingly different jobs. You might talk to the barber who cuts your hair, the man behind the yogurt counter, even the clerk at the gasoline station.

Interview them and ask them to tell you how they use math at both work and maybe even at home. The list should surprise both you and them!

When Paul DesLauriers, Polymer Chemist at Phillips Petroleum was asked what everyday tasks he uses math to do, his list included using math to:

• figure out how much of one component to mix with another
• to synthesize a chemical
• graph experiment results
• decide what items on the company cafeteria menu he would buy for lunch.

Experiment No. 2

Set up a journal for one day. Every time you use math, record what you did in your journal. To help you start, think about calculations you make similar to these:

If the school bus leaves at 8:00 and you finish breakfast at 7:20, how much time do you have to get dressed if the walk to the bus stops takes 5 minutes?

• 60-20-5 = dressing time

If your allowance is $4 and you want to buy a comic book that costs $3.75 - do you have enough to pay for the book and the sales tax?

• $3.75 x 1.08 = 4.05 or $3.75 + (3.75 x .08) = 4.05

Experiment No. 3

Go to the grocery store and make a list of how many times as a customer you use math during your shopping trip AND list six ways math might be used by employees running the store.

Obviously a clerk used addition and subtraction to make change for customers. Does the manager also use math to figure out product prices? What about decisions about how much shelf space to give certain products. Do you think it depends on how many type things have to fit in the store and which products make the most money?

Once you start listing the ways math is used everyday, it's pretty hard to stop counting!!