Math can be Cool!

One fellow student in our SCED class told me that she might have thought math was more interesting and important if her teachers had told her why math was important and how math applied to her life.  As a math major, I guess I had overlooked that because I think everyone should just understand how important math is! So here is a blog where I am writing to my future students to introduce them to how cool and useful math can be...enjoy!

http://www4.stat.ncsu.edu/~bmasmith/images/all.gif

Hey students!

Did you ever wonder why you have to take that Geometry class?  Do you find solving an equation boring?  Why do you even have to take math? What's the point?  How does it apply to your life?  I hope to answer all of these questions and more in my blog, so stay tuned....

http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/everybody_loves_a_math_joke

What do you want to be when you grow up?

First and foremost, I promise you that you will use math in your future career.  Now I'm not so naive as to believe that everyone wants to grow up to be a mathematician, but math is everywhere! Of course there are the obvious careers such as accountant, statistician, or chemist, but what about one of the hottest careers these days: Engineering?

This field is chalked full of math.  Engineers must figure the optimal design for a building.  To do this, they must use a technique called modeling where they use functions to represent what they are building.  They then must figure how to optimize their building with regards to safety, time, cost, appearance, etc.  This takes all sorts of math from algebra to geometry to trigonometry!

Okay, so let's pick a career that you think will be completely safe from being invaded by math, say a rock star.  Music is full of math from the beats per measure in a tempo to the relationship of the note and its tone.

Say you want to be a doctor; yes, there is math in that field too.  Doctors must be able to determine if a person has a healthy weight by calculating their Body Mass Index (BMI).  This is basically just a formula using height and weight. Also, doctors must be able to prescribe medicine.  The amount prescribed must be determined by several variables including the size, age, and sex of the patient.

Finally, say you want to go into a career with computers.  Computer scientists have to take nearly as many mathematics courses as math majors do!  Computers are encrypted through cryptography which is a process involving prime numbers.  Computers use binary numbers instead of the standard base ten that we are used to.
Now, I could go on and on with my list of careers that use math.  So, the moral of the story is that math is really important for any career field!

Math can be fun?

There are so many cool math concepts that can cleverly be disguised as games or activities.  Check out some of these cool sites. Every time I go on a website like one of these, I end up spending at least half an hour exploring! I have also included some study sites that help with the comprehension of math concepts.  Try some! Enjoy:

• These websites are sites full of applets. Applets are basically small programs that focus on one specific concept.  They are fun programs that can help you understand a math concept better.  
• http://www.slu.edu/classes/maymk/AppletsSLUBelowCalc.htmll
• http://www.edinformatics.com/il/il_math.htm
• These are websites that can help you with comprehension of a number of different concepts in several different areas of math.  
• http://www.math.com/
• http://www.coolmath.com/
• http://www.sosmath.com/index.html
• This site has interesting math facts and fun math tricks.  
• http://easycalculation.com/funny/funny.php
• What's so special about your favorite number? Find out here
• http://www2.stetson.edu/~efriedma/numbers.html

http://www.rocori.k12.mn.us/~czechj/FOV1-00021605/

    Convinced yet?

If you are still not convinced that math is cool and relevant to your life, check out this slideshow presentation:

Why should you care about math

View more presentations from jslloyd23

Still not convinced?  I bet you will be after checking out this YouTube clip:

Now... you should have a great understanding of how math can apply to your life.  You should also see many applications of how math can be fun and interesting!