The Importance of Math in Daily Life by Mikayla

The Importance of Math in Daily Life by Mikayla - October 2016 Scholarship Essay

If the roles were reversed at school and I could teach any academic subject I would teach math. I would pick math because it is at the most used subject in daily life. "What!", you might say. Let me tell you.

You wake you each morning by a clock which you learned to use in math in elementary school. Time is based on numbers, right?The most organized people I know follow a daily schedule which is based on time available minus tasks that are to be completed.

Next let's talk about food. You might think, " What does math have to do with food?" When someone cooks they use units of measurement for recipes. If you want 1/2 cup of water you need to know how to read a measuring cup or get creative and figure out how many tablespoons of water are in a 1/2 cup. Then if you are following a certain diet. You have to know how to read food nutritional labels. Should I pick the chips with 12 grams of fat or the chips with 6 grams of fat? Yes, that sounds like the dreaded word problems we all remember from school.

Another daily math use is money. People use math in buying and selling things everyday. I use math to figure out if I have enough money to go get a iced coffee after school with my friends. My parents use math to balance their checkbook and do a budget to

If the roles were reversed at school and I could teach any academic subject I would teach math. I would pick math because it is the most used subject in daily life. "What!,” you might say. Let me tell you.

You wake you each morning by a clock, which you learned to use in math in elementary school. Time is based on numbers, right? The most organized people I know follow a daily schedule, which is based on time available minus tasks that are to be completed.

Next let's talk about food. You might think, " What does math have to do with food?" When someone cooks they use units of measurement for recipes. If you want 1/2 cup of water you need to know how to read a measuring cup or get creative and figure out how many tablespoons of water are in a 1/2 cup. Then if you are following a certain diet. You have to know how to read food nutritional labels. Should I pick the chips with 12 grams of fat or the chips with 6 grams of fat. Yes, that sounds like the dreaded word problems we all remember from school.

Another daily math use is money. People use math in buying and selling things everyday. I use math to figure out if I have enough money to go get a iced coffee after school with my friends. My parents use math to balance their checkbook and do a budget to pay bills and other more complicated things like interest rates and investments. Money can use addition, subtraction, fractions, percentages and more.

Let's not forget building or construction. I could be talking about a building a house or a road or really anything. You would need to know how to measure and figure out area, length and or circumferences. Then you need to know the cost of supplies to order and how much money you need to get those supplies. Let's not forget to pay the workers that more math.

I asked my parents if they use math at work and they both use math at work everyday. My dad uses math at work to figure out profit because he is in sales. He also uses math to figure out welding parameters for setting welding machines for different applications. Plus he uses math to manage inventory based off customer usage. My mom uses math to take vitals such as weight, height, temperatures. She also uses math in calculating dosages for medications and many other areas.

These are just a few examples of math in daily life. I am sure there are many more. It would helpful to teach students to see the math used in daily life. How many times have you been in class and thought, when in the world am I ever going use this again. Don't worry it even happens to me and I enjoy math.