I often wonder what the purpose is of mathematics. I'm not talking about simple numeracy or arithmetic, I'm talking about higher maths. Even the great English mathematician, GH Hardy, accepted that higher maths was without practical application. He said: "I have never done anything 'useful'. No discovery of mine has made, or is likely to make, directly or indirectly, for good or ill, the least difference to the amenity of the world." So what is the point? Schools and educationalists in the UK seem to be obsessed with maths. I have two theories, one frivolous and one more serious. 1. People have to learn mathematics so that some of them can become maths teachers. 2. Maths is easy to mark and measure. Subjects like English and History are much more difficult to assess and it is much harder to be objective. Put simply, maths makes life easier for bureaucrats.
I think you need math for being a doctor, pharmacist and those type of professions. I have 2 siblings that majored in it. One sister taught it in community college and my brother got his PhD in something like nuclear physics but started out as a math major. He taught at the university level and has tenure but now he doesn't teach but is the Dean of the math dept at a university in New Haven, Connecticut. He misses teaching though and hates administrative work but he will be retiring anyway soon.
I just looked my brother up because I wasn't sure of the info I have was correct. I seldom talk to him because he's too smart. http://math.newhaven.edu/kolibal/cv/JKCVc.pdf
Math is very important in many if not most things. I used trigonometry a lot and some calculus in my career as a tool and die maker. There would have never been a moon landing or any of our space probes without math.
Math is necessary for some jobs but not others so math should be an elective. But then again, children sometimes don't realize how good they are at math until exposed to it.
I took two years of algebra in high school but I didn't understand the relevancy of it. At test time, I would quickly review the test and write down the formulas that would be applicable to any test questions before I forgot them. I got A's and B's in algebra but I didn't get it. To be perfectly candid, without cheating I'd have never made it through geometry, and I dropped out of trigonometry after three days. Many years later, when I became a paramedic, I didn't quite get it during my paramedic training but later, when I began to prepare to teach the drug calculations part of the course, I realized that this was algebra. All of the drug calculation formulas were algebra. When the technical institute that I taught for became a college and my students were required to take general courses as well as the EMS ones, I attended the math course that was required of my students, and the instructor had ways of accomplishing the drug calculation questions that were much easier than those taught in any of the drug calculation or paramedic text books at the time. When all of my paramedic students registered for her course in the same quarter, she would use drug calculations as the sample questions, since it added relevancy to the coursework. I had a new pharmacology course roughly every two years, as my students progressed from EMT-Basic to EMT-Intermediate, and on to EMT-Paramedic. Still, perhaps because I simply don't have much of a math aptitude, during that time, I would have forgotten how to do the algebra and would have to review it myself before teaching the course. In practice, we didn't do calculations -- we simply memorized the protocol, which told us how much to give of a specific drug, so it wasn't something that I would use on a regular basis. Geometry, I believe, is useful in the construction and design industries.
I always wondered the same thing @Tom Locke, therefore I never learned to speak Algebra. It is helpful for shooting pool.
Certain very practical problems have no possible means of solution without the use of higher Math. That is where the practicality and theory finally meet. An example is the area of a very irregularly curved perimeter, or the volume of a solid object having irregularly curved surface, like an egg. Why would we need to find those areas or volumes? Because such problems present themselves whenever a machine of complexity is being designed and built. Picture the constantly curving surfaces of today's jetliner wings and fuselage. Definite answers must be found relating to implementing the shapes in reality from computer images.
I used to feel that way about the "higher math" and still do for myself personally but it has come in real handy for two of my daughters who are in the Medical field...and do use it.
Apparently, George W Bush once accused mathematics teachers of political bias. He heard that they were teaching Al Gore-ism.
I think that the best thing about math for me, is that it makes my brain "exercise" Math to me is like a puzzle, so in that respect, having to figure out equations etc., is more of a game for someone like me. Also, construction folks need to know quite a bit of geometry, don't they? What about map-makers, or even computer geeks? What about doctors, trying to figure out what each patient needs, like in the weight of calories according to their weight/height/age. I mean I know some of those are simple math, or lean toward simple math. I think if for no, other reason, kids will benefit by having Math, including algebra, geometry, if they only are encouraged to use their brains, figure things out. I love Math, it's probably, well, after history, my fave, teaching. Of course people have to have an interest in it, like anything else.