‘What is the point of learning calculus when I cannot use it in my daily life?’ You must’ve heard a lot of people saying this. And they do not stop at this. They think Math failed them (maybe after they almost failed it before?).
Then someone else chimes in, squints his/her eyes and says, ‘I cannot use calculus to buy vegetables. What is the point of teaching it?’ Well, there are people like this and then there are others who cannot handle the following.
You arrive at a shop to buy some stuff. Bill comes out to be Rs. 52. You give a Rs. 100 note expecting the balance to be returned. However, the shopkeeper puts the ball back in your court by asking Rs. 2 more so that he/she can return Rs. 50 to you. This small ask from the shopkeeper makes you question your existence and you react as if the shopkeeper stole your goat.
If someone were to find the intersection between the above two sets, it’ll be a big number.
Nonetheless, why does Math get all the hate?
I don’t want to counsel you here but all I intend to ask is why is the hate on Math more prominent than other subjects?
Have you used any quote of Shakespeare in your daily life? (Don’t look at me! My first article is literally one of the dialogues he wrote and I don’t complain about not being able to use calculus in my daily life as well.)
Or are you performing any of the fundamental duty laid down in our constitution? You too are just concerned about your rights. Right?
Remember your fun art classes? Can you now differentiate between colors which you learnt then? Forget calculus guys. Learn to tell the difference between colors please. This is mighty helpful in situations you cannot even imagine.
Oh and science?
Do you remember anything outside of ‘Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell?’
Not sure how Math is helping others, but for me it helps in being sarcastic a lot. And I use it quite often in my discussions , PPTs, in random conversations and most importantly as a valid proof for the things I write in my blog.
And this doesn’t end here. You sound more confident when you use your numbers correctly. For e.g. when you say
Chances of occurrence of an event is around 10% → this shows that you haven’t thought properly. You’re just guessing.
I believe the chances for this event are roughly 29% → OMG! This guy has done some serious thinking before arriving at this number.
Oh and most important one. I used it to save myself from going bankrupt. If you’re very excited to buy the latest iPhone and your account balance is only a low 5 digit number but the price of iPhone is a high 6 digit number, you generally do not buy the latest iPhone!
Now that you know a trick or two maybe you can hate Math a little less or even better tell me how you all use Math in your daily life.
And before I wrap up, if you were thinking of using calculus to buy vegetables, what were you smoking, eh?
When diagram ?
This is hilarious!