Why must we learn math in school?

Herro RisaAttrell I've seen a lot of different responses to your question. The easiest way I can explain it is it is one of the three "R's". Reading, Riting, Rithmetic. I'm aware they are misspelled. Without a basic knowledge of math, how can we understand what we read? Without a basic knowledge of numbers, how can we write? We use math when we go to the grocery store, so we get the best product at the best price. Whatever you are purchasing math helps us to get the best price. It is not always convenient to carry a calculator, although most of our cell phones have a basic calculator. One person mentioned counting change. I have seen many young people who couldn't count change when their electronic cash register broke down. We need math to make change. There are numerous ways we use math on a daily basis, putting gas in car, etc. I'm sure I missed something. Prosperous mylotting

We need math, for everything we do have math!!! Without math calculators won't even be invented. You won't be able to join mylot if math did not exist! Math is very important it helps you develop your logic. Math is very important to check whether you are earning or not.

Maths is not just adding and multiplying, it's way beyond that. And even if you stop at calculations, at least learn how not to be a slave to a piece of junk in case it runs out of battery! Besides, if no one learns how "calculations" are made, who will make the calculator? They don't make themselves you know!

well we increase brain power with math. and of course there are times that you dont have any calculators lying around.

Learning math in school is important as we can use math in our daily activities. I envy my husband who can calculate interest, discounts, prices, savings immediately without pen and paper, or calculator while we are doing our groceries. When I was at school, I also think that math is not so important as we can easily grab a calculator and instantly get the answer. But if you will notice, complex solutions cannot be done by the calculator.

I feel that most of the people need math only at a basic level, without the non-sense you learn at the later grades which, more than likely won't help you at all on a daily basis.

Great question. Undergoing learning of addition, subtraction, division and multiplication, concepts such as theorems, axioms, corollaries, in geometry, and hypotheses, assumptions, true/false statements, assertions, existential-qualifiers, contradictions, in abstract maths, help in the development of critical thinking which is essential for solution of problems in life. Even basic math like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are essential to our practical lives. Greek mathematicians/ /astronomers such as Ptolemy, Euclid, Plato, Pythagorus, et al. probably realized this, which also explains why their civilizations flourished and paved the way for others to follow. When students undergo mental "torture" by having to do mathematical problems, their mental horizons widen; when they select the right solutions/concepts/formulas to questions, they are honing their mental skills in choosing the most expedient and comprehensive solutions concepts or formulas for arriving at their solutions; they are using logic, judgment, rational and analytical thinking. When they do mathematical work, they are arriving at specific, logical step by step solutions to problems. In much the same way, they arrive at rational and well-judged solutions to problems in their real lives. In short, mathematics is not a stand-alone subject, but its learning improves learning of other subjects, even ones as diverse as history and geography. The learning of mathematics helps adolescents to not just write solutions in notebooks, but to find solutions to real life-problems, which ultimately paves the way for their smooth weaning-away from parental dependence to independent existence. In spite of the development of technology such as highly user-friendly calculators and other hand-held devices, I still feel that using the brain rather than such devices, to perform mathematical calculations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, is essential to healthy mental development. These mandatory school-level numerical operations such as addition, subtraction, division and multiplication open up remote brain cells. These calculations stimulate the brain, making the student develop confidence in the basics of problem solving, and further on in life, help him solve more complex problems life-problems. Therefore I feel that basic mathematical operations and mathematics as such, is essential to real "education". Further, I feel that user-friendly calculators, etc. only make the brain numb and insensitive, develop a 'dependent' attitude, and arrest mental development if used at the school level; they may be introduced to students at the graduate school level, where the numbers involved become bigger, and the mathematical operations involve exponents, square roots, integration, differentiation, etc. In conclusion, learning math is a "must" in school life, and even in later life in the form of 'adult education'.

Learning Math in school is important for very obvious lessons. You get to live if you know Math. How are we going to get by our lives if we dont know how to add smiles, lessen worries, divide pain and multiply love? I know it's very idealistic for me. But I know Math doesn't only end in numbers. They only start with it. I have been an instructor and I tell you, everyone hates me. It was my job to let them math and appreciate it as a part of life. I just make it fun for learning. It isnt so hard to learn it.

Arithmetic is the part of Mathematics (ie,not the only branch of mathematics you'd learn in school..)that works with numbers that you know,and can use a calculator for.You're right,using a calculator in a classroom is easier in those situations,but when you're out shopping or doing business,wouldn't you like to be able to scan over an invoice or count the change you've been given and realise you've been overcharged without having to reach for a calculator to find that out?

Maths is one of the most important subject. This is also the basic science. As long as you learn maths, then you can easily learn other subjects such as chemistry, physics etc. Besides, maths can improve the methods of thinking. I love China

[b]Absolutely yes.. calculator run out of batteries.. but, brain doesn't... we must know the calculations instead of calculators... after knowing the calculations.. we can check it with calculator.. but, working in calculator will make us lazy..[/b]

We simply need to learn math since we need its fundamentals in our daily living. We use mathematics in almost everything we do. Without it, it would be impossible for us to do a lot of things that are related to this. AS what the other mylotter who commented in your discussion said, calculators couldn't be invented without the knowledge of mathematics.

It is the right decision we have to undertake whether to add, subtract, multiply or divide which calculators do not teach. They simply obey our commands, that is if they are working perfectly alright, to come up with the right answers. And that is why we need to learn Math in school.

I found your discussion really funny. It brings so many memories during my college days. And really hope you don't mind if I share it to you. ^.^ I was not really good at math during my high school days because I never review on math subjects, what I learn at class is what I answer during the exams. so when I entered college my Dad was forcing me to take an engineering course which I strongly pointed out that my grades in math are very low and really wanted to take a programming course. But then Dad won and I took and engineering course and as we all know MATH courses are deadly but... I liked it. I found out that everything that is learn should be practice. It's the key.. practice. and if you are bad at math it's just because you lack practice. and to answer your question why must we learn math? After I graduated I actually took another course which was programming and guess what? Math is also applied into it! much more complex than before especially if you are onto graphics programming (3D - openGL). We are taught at school the long method not because our teachers wants to make us suffer, its because we need to know how to analyze the problem at hand, how to properly attack the problem on our own, because in real life after school most of the solutions/ formulas to our math problems can't be found in a book anymore. we need to know the solution on our own. Yes, commonly like mothers, office workers just needed the addition, subtraction part, but if you're aiming for much bigger career in life you need MATH!

Learning mathematical operation is very important because, we cannot use calculator in all situations sometimes for some mental calculations we need to know addition, subtraction etc... Also It will be an exercise for our brain. It can also improve our logical ability.

yes u r right. But, we can not always rely on cals. We should develop a good memory, by learning tables, algebra, geometry or Arithmetic we can expect a better memory.

We learn math in school because mainly in home parent has no time to teach their child because parent know well in school child can learn more as compare to home because in many homes mom and dad of the child both are working so in this way have no time to teach books in home either any place so we learn all the things in school in our childhood.

I think learning math is necessary, but we should not learn so much in the school. If math is just "add" or "subtract", we can learn it from our daily life. But if we use differential or integral, we have to understand how they come out, and we cannot get these ideas from life. Then we need to learn it from school. But sometimes, we are only allowed to use pen and paper to solve these problems without any help from calculater. I think this is not necessary.

Nowadays, children are more likely to avoid MATH. I don't understand why they do so. Besides parents, their teachers can encourage them get over this problem. Online tutors are another good option for them. There are several tutoring sites available to help students learning math from the very beginning, for a very nominal cost. Some of them specialize in math, like tutorteddy.com.

I think it's good to learn math's in school, to a point. I think that basic math's is good (adding, subtracting, dividing etc.) but things that are useless in daily life such as pi and algebra etc. should be learnt if taking the course in college. Maybe only learn a very basic amount of them so people could grasp the concept of it, but I think it's quite unnecessary to learn things like that. And it is true, most people have a calculator handy on their phone now anyways.