Why Study Algebra?

[+ Avalon]

I know the need for simple math - add, subtract, divide, multiply. Geometry can be helpful. But what need is there for the average person to study algebra?

 

I have no idea what calculus and trigonometry do.

[+ Travis69]

I loved algebra in high school and actually do use it once in a while to figure things out.

[+ nycman]

Long live a well rounded education!

 

The individual elements are not nearly as important as the astounding combination of the integrated whole.

 

Put another way....Shakespeare is meanless.....in isolation.

 

Yet in the context of a well balanced education...he is as important to me as the air I breathe.

[+ Avalon]

I love the Bard of Avon! I took a class in college. I got an "A".

 

I like the idea of the great books curriculum course of study.

 

 

I loved algebra in high school and actually do use it once in a while to figure things out.

 

How do you use it in real life?

 

I couldn't get Algebra but I did like Geometry. Just the way my brain works.

[corndog]

I believe that the principles of logic and problem-solving skills usually come along with algebra.

[+ sniper]

Algebra is about figuring things out without just blindly guessing. I mean, yeah you don't need to retain all the formulae for trig identities, but you should be able to do basic things so you don't fall for political bullshit like "lowering tax rates always increases tax revenue."

[HappyParty]

As algebra is taught now, it's not good for much. As someone who has done quite a bit of math, and someone who takes great joy in it, I find the high school grind through the curriculum in the United States to be a total disgrace. The current high school algebra track was designed prior to the advent of computers with the goal of churning out engineers and economists. Despite computers having changed these fields significantly, high school math has remained the same. As an example, teachers are still told that their students must "rationalize the denominator" and that not doing so is a great sin. This trick dates back to the time before calculators when students relied on root tables in the back of textbooks to compute square roots. It would be a lot easier to find sqrt(2)/2 than 1/sqrt(2) using root tables, but rationalizing denominators remains a relic in the curriculum to this day despite the ubiquity of calculators. There's a lot of "it teaches you to problem solve and think logically" nonsense out there. We've got a long way to go in restructuring the curriculum before we are actually walking the walk.

[+ Travis69]

How do you use it in real life?

Off the top of my head I can't answer that question but remember using the formulas for some daily things. If I remember I'll let you know.

[seattlebottom]

Algebra served as a great base for me when I took trigonometry and chemistry.

[+ Avalon]

The Romans and algebra

 

https://www.quora.com/Did-the-Romans-have-the-ability-to-solve-algebraic-equations-involving-squares-roots-and-negative-numbers-Did-they-have-the-concept-of-zero

[+ sync]

I loved algebra in high school and actually do use it once in a while to figure things out.

 

How do you use it in real life?

 

I couldn't get Algebra but I did like Geometry. Just the way my brain works.

 

I believe that the principles of logic and problem-solving skills usually come along with algebra.

 

Algebra is about figuring things out without just blindly guessing. I mean, yeah you don't need to retain all the formulae for trig identities, but you should be able to do basic things so you don't fall for political bullshit like "lowering tax rates always increases tax revenue."

 

As algebra is taught now, it's not good for much. As someone who has done quite a bit of math, and someone who takes great joy in it, I find the high school grind through the curriculum in the United States to be a total disgrace. The current high school algebra track was designed prior to the advent of computers with the goal of churning out engineers and economists. Despite computers having changed these fields significantly, high school math has remained the same. As an example, teachers are still told that their students must "rationalize the denominator" and that not doing so is a great sin. This trick dates back to the time before calculators when students relied on root tables in the back of textbooks to compute square roots. It would be a lot easier to find sqrt(2)/2 than 1/sqrt(2) using root tables, but rationalizing denominators remains a relic in the curriculum to this day despite the ubiquity of calculators. There's a lot of "it teaches you to problem solve and think logically" nonsense out there. We've got a long way to go in restructuring the curriculum before we are actually walking the walk.

 

Algebra served as a great base for me when I took trigonometry and chemistry.

 

 

[Guy Fawkes]

So that you can answer the question:

 

"A farmer buys 100 animals for $100.00. The animals include at least

one cow, one pig, and one chicken, but no other kind. If a cow costs

$10.00, a pig costs $3.00, and a chicken costs $0.50, how many of each

did he buy?"

(5 cows; 1 pig; and 94 chickens)

I know the need for simple math - add, subtract, divide, multiply. Geometry can be helpful. But what need is there for the average person to study algebra?

 

I have no idea what calculus and trigonometry do.

Edited June 26, 2018 by Guy Fawkes

[cany10011]

Trigonometry has been very useful to me in deciding whether I can arrange my 6 panel Japanese screen in an accordion style (folded partially) along a shorter wall. These screens are about 14 feet wide and it is hard to find an appropriate sized wall to display it on. So using, the Pythagorean theorem, i was able to calculate the necessary length of a wall if i were to fold the screen panels in an accordion style. This has helped me in deciding whether to purchase a screen or not. (I have a collection of 15 screens and rotate them according to the seasons like they do in Kyoto).

 

I don’t use calculus much in my day to day. Algebra, sometimes especially when splitting dinner checks among a mixed group of friends (some friends drink vs. non drinkers).

 

I was in the math club and participated in the annual math olympiads

[+ sync]

I harbor a great deal of envy along with a great deal of admiration for individuals who have skills in the various areas of mathematics. So many marvels in history and present day would have been impossible without mathematics. Had it all been left to me, we would be still waiting for fire and the wheel.

[HappyParty]

Just remember: "Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it... he who doesn't... pays it.” --Albert Einstein

[+ friendofsheila]

But what need is there for the average person to study algebra?

Because a mind is stronger if it is exercised.

[+ Avalon]

Because a mind is stronger if it is exercised.

 

I prefer history.

[Guy Fawkes]

You want to exercise history?

 

 

I prefer history.

[Rudynate]

I use simple algebra all the time.

I took calculus in college but I don't remember much about it.

[+ friendofsheila]

I prefer history.

 

But it you over-exercise your history muscle and don't do algebra, your math muscle will shrivel and all the guys in the locker room will point and laugh.

[marylander1940]

I know the need for simple math - add, subtract, divide, multiply. Geometry can be helpful. But what need is there for the average person to study algebra?

 

I have no idea what calculus and trigonometry do.

 

Because we have brains and we have to use them.

 

Why reading Shakespeare? Same answer

[+ Avalon]

But it you over-exercise your history muscle and don't do algebra, your math muscle will shrivel and all the guys in the locker room will point and laugh.

 

LOL

 

But now with math we have calculators.

 

In high school I was not doing well in algebra. There was a pre algebra class but at a different period. My class schedule was fixed. Only class I could take at the same time as algebra was basic math so I switched to that. The teacher just had us do problems from the book every day. Some were long addition ones. However the book I was given someone had written down all the answers to all of the problems! Lucky me!

[+ Avalon]

Because we have brains and we have to use them.

 

Why reading Shakespeare? Same answer

 

But I like, enjoy Shakespeare and Homer and Virgil and Ovid and Lucan and Dante and Tasso.

[+ Avalon]

I harbor a great deal of envy along with a great deal of admiration for individuals who have skills in the various areas of mathematics. So many marvels in history and present day would have been impossible without mathematics. Had it all been left to me, we would be still waiting for fire and the wheel.

 

I'm with you there! If I didn't have a calendar and a watch I wouldn't know the seasons change nor the days grow longer and shorter. I'd probably be a geocentrist.

[+ bashful]

I always thought of algebra as a course to determine who is more likely to be successful in science and medicine. Not so much the answer, but how a person thought. I never got it at all.