[mysticman72]

I've wondered what "good" is Algebra for daily living? And as my children are growing up and beginning to learn, I can't give them a good reason to learn it either. I'm being really honest and I would like to hear a different perspective than my own.

Thank you in advance!

[Fr_Chuck]

Depends on what you do in your life, do you do accident invesigation? Do you work in a medical field do you work as a engineer, builder, As a Pastor, no I don't use them often.
As a person who designed, fitted special computer operated DME equipment for handicapped I used various types daily.

[mysticman72]

Thank you Fr Chuck.

I am in management and use math every day. I use Excel every day, run pivot tables, create charts, basic accounting, P and L's, budgets, etc. For me, these kinds of things are basic math and logic that the majority of people should learn. I just don't ever remember a time when I used algebra in a real world situation.

Peace...

[ebaines]

Agree with the others that iit does indeed depend on what you do for a living. In grade school its important to teach algebra so as to allow everyone to have the basic math skills to move on to learn about chemistry, physics, biology, economics. Medicine, etc. But I do understand the frustration that comes from solving what seem to be pretty silly work problems - virtually none of which ever actually come up in real life. However, by learning how to solve these kinds of problems you learn thinking skills that make it possible to attack all sorts of more complicated problems.

[mysticman72]

Ebaines,

Thank you. I see exactly what you mean. It isn't so much that one will use it in particular. It is the problem-solving skills that makes algebra so helpful. Great insight!