Will I Ever Need Math In Real Life?

As teachers, educators, and parents, we get asked the question “Will I ever need math in real life?’ all the time, and we’re always excited to answer it.
Spoiler alert – the answer is YES…but do keep reading – it’s very cool how math is integrated/used in everyday life.

You may not know it, but math is a fundamental tool that is part of our daily lives. In fact, the moment you open your eyes and check the time, you have begun to use math. By checking the time, you’re exercising your time management skills to figure out if you must get up (or can hit the snooze button), and how much time you have to exercise, take a shower, eat breakfast, get to work or school, etc.

It is true that measurements, fractions and percentages (things that are taught in elementary school) are used in your everyday life for all your life. Math also teaches transferable skills like analytical skills, problem solving skills and collaborative skills, all of which will help a person build a successful career and live a rewarding life.

…But math also goes beyond the above.

In fact, math is so much intertwined in our daily lives that for most people, its use goes 100% unnoticed. It’s so easy to realize we are doing math when we’re in a math class, completing math homework, creating a budget, handling personal finances, shopping, calculating a tip at a restaurant, etc. It’s not so apparent or evident when we’re engaging in activities like watching a movie, playing a game, using tech, playing sports, gardening, cooking, or crafting.

Here are some examples of how math is used in everyday real life:

• Time Management: From scheduling to setting alarms to managing time requirements, a person needs an understanding of hours, minutes, and seconds.
• Cooking & Baking: Recipes require measurements, conversions, ratios and time management (no one wants burnt cookies).
• Health & Fitness: Math is used for things like calculating/tracking calories, planning exercise routines, and measuring progress.
• Sports: Mathematical concepts are needed for scorekeeping, stats (game and player) and for developing game strategies.
• Driving: Basic arithmetic is used to calculate speeds, distances and fuel consumption.
• Music: Fractions and ratios are used to understand beats, rhythms, and time signatures.
• Art & Design: Artists use mathematical principles in symmetry, proportion, and perspective.
• Gardening: Math is needed to understand growth rates, calculate planting distances and nutritional/fertilizer needs, and estimate soil volume.
• Travel: Planning trips and travel routes, calculating distances, and estimating travel times involve addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, geometry, and even calculus at times.
• Home Improvement & Renos: From budgeting costs to measuring spaces & furniture, to understanding dimensions, to calculating what materials are needed or areas to paint, mathematical skills are heavily relied on.
• Technology & Electronics: In addition to working with percentages, math concepts are also used to understand data sizes, and calculate download & upload speeds.
• Games & Puzzles: Strategy and probability are often needed when playing board games, card games, and puzzles.
• Medicine: Mathematics is vital in calculating proper medicine dosage, taking medical measurements, and understanding statistics in medical research.

So, parents, if your child is asking you if they will ever really use the math they are learning in school in real life, the answer to share with them is YES, YES, and YES!

Math goes well beyond the classroom. It empowers people to make decisions all day and every day and it shapes daily experiences and lives.

And parents - if your child is interested in a career where math takes centre stage, there are so many cool careers (outside of Mathematician, Statistician & Physicist roles) to consider - Cryptographer, Computer Programmer, Software Developer, Game Developer, Game Designer, Data Scientist, Astronomer, Astrophysicist, Robotics Engineer, Civil Engineer, Structural Engineer, Forensic Analyst, Biostatistician, Artificial Intelligence Engineer and so much more.

Keep Math Learning Ongoing with Private Math Tutoring at Mathnasium

Here at Mathnasium of Newmarket, we believe that:

• Math matters, both at school and in life.
• With the right support, materials, and instruction anyone can succeed in math.
• Math is fun, and we know how to make learning it fun.

We also believe that people are the best form of teaching technology, especially when it comes to learning mathematics. Our compassionate, passionate, and well-trained math instructors will help motivate your child to achieve stronger grades in math (and school overall), provide emotional support in a safe environment, and help them celebrate all their successes along the way.

Contact Us today through our online form or call or text us at (905) 895-6284. We’d love to talk to you more about our Newmarket math tutoring programs and how we can help get and keep your kids on track at school all year long.