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okay i'm doing this project and we need to knoe when were ever going to use math like when we grow uo and stuff. well i want to be a professional basketball player and i was wondering what kind of math would i need to know for that? thanx (link)
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This isn't an answer to your question. I just wan't to say that I think that's a stupid project in a math class. The truth most high school math teachers don't want to admit to their students is that for the most part, their students simply won't ever use the mathematics they teach again, once they leave school. I mean, even in careers that use a lot of math, like engineering and science, for the most part, computers do almost all the mathematics. And the person programming the computer probably uses already-written modules.
I am a high school math teacher. I've taught Algebra I, Geometry, Pre-calculus/trig, and Calculus. I teach these classes not because they're useful for some God-only-knows reason, but because it's important to develop the rational part of your brain. It's important to be able to see the connections in science, or to follow the flow of a mathematical solution. It's important, not because it's useful, but because it's intrinsically valulable.
The honest truth of the matter is that the vast majority of people won't need to know mathematics beyond, say, Algebra I once they complete school. And most people probably won't need to know anything more basic than elementary school math. That doesn't mean it's not important, and to come up with contrived problems to "prove" the importance of mathematics is simply ridiculous.
Tell your math teacher that, if you dare. :) And refer G.H. Hardy (1877-1947, a British mathematician), whose favorite area of mathematics is number theory, precisely because it is so useless--it has never been used, he said, to kill anybody. (Little did he know that in less than a century that neglected branch of mathematics would become crucial in cryptography and making the internet a safe and secure place.)
More quotes I just ran across, looking for something from Hardy:
It demeans mathematics to justify it to appeals to work, to getting and spending... Can you recall why you fell in love with mathematics? It was not, I think, because of its usefulness in controlling inventories.
- Underwood Dudley, from "Is Mathematics Necessary?"
The mathematician does not study pure mathematics because it is useful; he studies it because he delights in it and he delights in it because it is beautiful.
- Henri Poincare, quoted in More Joy of Mathematics
Suffice it to say that a question like your teacher asked insults somebody who really enjoys mathematics.
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Rating: 5
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okay yeah your right you didn't answre my question! and i didn't invent the stupid project! lol i told her it was useless shit i didn't care about but she didn't care! well your answer was pretty gay i have to say but it made me laugh so yeah!
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