Why
Maths?
What
use is maths in every day life?
Maths is an application that surrounds us and is
part of almost everything we do, touch and feel.
It underlies every process and pattern that occurs
in the world and having a good understanding of it
will help enormously in everyday life.
Being quick at mental arithmetic will save you hundreds
in the supermarket, a knowledge of statistics will
help you see through the nonsense in the media, and
it will help you even with your favourite activity
e.g. understanding the torrent of information you'll
hear about your local footy team.
Maths in nature
 Simple maths equations are constantly turning up
in our daily lives. Some examples are:
• The
spherical symmetrical shape of a soap bubble;
• The gentle sag of the clothes line in the back garden;
• Ripples on the surface of a pond;
• The sun's path across the sky, or star trails around
the Pole Star;
• Throwing cricket balls or water jetting out from
a hosepipe.
Using
the last example, every falling object follows
a parabola—a quadratic equation
that you learn in year 10/11. Interestingly, when
you throw a ball,
your brain is solving in milliseconds exactly the
same equation for which the military gurus in the
Second World War had books listing thousands of solutions!
Mathematical sequences can be discovered in the
spiral of seeds on a sunflower, the fractal pattern
of snowflakes
or broccoli florets, the pattern of stripes on
a zebra or the swirling of a hurricane.
Maths has been used to explain how we tie knots
in our shoelaces, and why a knot could not be tied
in
four dimensions.
All kinds of music, from Classical
to hip-hop, have a deep mathematical pattern to
it. Some
scientists
believe that it is this very mathematical structure
that our brains latch on to, which explains why
we enjoy listening to music with a good rhythm
or catchy
tune. The same is probably true for the things
we find visually beautiful, where mathematical
.equations
abound.
Man-made maths
 Structural
engineers make extensive use of maths when designing
buildings. The strengths and forces
must be carefully balanced, for everything from a
small bungalow to the breath-taking feat of a skyscraper,
or the 2km-long Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge in Japan, or
the elegant domes of the Eden Project in Cornwall.
Some are even designed to illustrate mathematical
functions, such as the Gateway Arch in St. Louis,
USA. This stunning monument towers almost 200m above
the Mississippi river, and was built to follow the
catenary curve—the same curve made by a chain
sagging under its own weight.
The communication satellites
orbiting high over out heads that let us watch
Cable/Satellite television
channels or make phone calls to America are all
governed by the intricacies of maths.
The action
in video games, like a racing car accelerating
round a corner, is only possible because the computer
is solving hundreds of equations a second to
simulate
how the car should behave and what graphics to
display on the screen.
The insurance we buy before
going on holiday is calculated by mathematicians,
and the modern
drugs
we take when
we fall ill are only available because statistics
have shown them to be effective and safe.
Maths helping our lives
Not only is the beauty of maths everywhere around
us, but also having an understanding of it helps
in day-to-day life. Have you ever been to the supermarket
and not known whether it is cheaper to buy one kind
of pasta, at 69c for 500 grams, or a 750-gram bag
of another brand at $1.15? Being able to do some
simple mental arithmetic would prevent you from being
ripped off.
What use is studying maths?
- Maths for general skills
 The most fundamental skill that mathematics
will equip you with is to able to learn and understand
the basic principles (for example, starting from
shapes, triangles and angles), to build upon
this existing knowledge to developing further
general concepts (Pythagoras' theorem, trigonometry),
and then to apply these hypotheses to specific
examples (solving specific geometric problems
using the techniques of trigonometry).
Maths
teaches you to think logically, to ask questions,
and to do thorough and rigorous investigations
to answer them.
As well as teaching you problem-solving
and data-handling skills, mathematics is the
language of most of
the lab sciences and many of the quantitative
parts of social sciences. It therefore
enables you to communicate complicated concepts.
These more skills will be useful, no matter
what
you want to do in the future.
But more
importantly in addition to the acquisition
of these general skills, you
will need maths
to study a wide range of subjects—from
engineering to economics, medicine to archaeology.
- Maths for transferable skills
Apart from these general transferable skills,
maths also equips you with a set of tools that
are vital in many jobs. Here is just a selection
of the wide variety of careers that mathematics
opens up.
- Engineering
If you study engineering, maths forms the bases
for most of the subjects. Whether you are doing
civil, mechanical, and electrical or materials
engineering, you will need to use geometry, calculus
and algebra to work with mathematical formulae
for physical forces, electrical currents and
other phenomena.
For example, when studying civil
engineering you will have to calculate the
force distribution
for different structures, such as truss bridges.
This will involve a combination of trigonometry
and solving the equations of forces on the
bridge. On other occasions, you will need to
use integration
to calculate the centre of mass of an object,
or to use differential equations to understand
the flow of water through pipes.
- Economics
Studying economics requires you not only be
able to handle data and work with figures, but
also to understand the concepts underlying economic
questions. You will use maths to calculate compound
interest, and arithmetic series to calculate
growth of investments. You will need to use calculus
to optimise cost and profit calculations, and
to use these principles to express and analyse
supply and demand problems.
- Medicine
Medical students have to take courses in statistics,
is critical in analysing today's medical knowledge.
They need to critically interpret data, such
as the results of trials of new medical practice,
to judge the reliability of tests and to assess
the risks of treatments.
Maths is also used in
medical research, for modelling tumour growth
and the effects of therapy, for
planning treatment, and for understanding
and interpreting medical scans.
- Archaeology
Mathematics is even necessary in many of the
non-lab sciences, such as psychology and archaeology.
Archaeologists use a variety of mathematical
and statistical techniques to present the data
from archaeological surveys and to distinguish
patterns in their results that shed light on
past human behaviour. Statistical measures are
used during excavation to monitor which pits
are most successful and to decide on further
excavation. Finds are analysed using statistical
and numerical methods to find patterns in the
way the archaeological record changes, both over
time and geographically, within a site and across
the country.
- Statistical consultant and data analysis
You often hear about consultants being called
in by government departments or business, but
what do they actually do? Statistical and mathematical
consultants use their training to solve problems
in a wide range of areas, such as predicting
future infrastructure requirements, improving
manufacturing processes and using the large amounts
of information now held by businesses to help
them make better decisions.
- Computer games designer and IT
Creating the virtual worlds and making the people
that inhabit them behave, as we would expect
involves a vast knowledge of maths.
The virtual
landscapes and things within them are three-dimensional
mathematical objects, and
these objects behave and interact according
to the equations for the rules of physics that
apply
within the game. These rules might cover
gravity, speed and force, and even stop your
character
falling through a solid floor but allow them
to sink in quicksand.
This type of mathematics
is also used in computer graphics for movies.
- Medical statistician and medical research
Medical statisticians design clinical trials
of new drugs or medical treatments to judge whether
they are effective. Statistics and mathematics
are used throughout medical research to model
tumour growth, to decide
treatment dosages, to understand the spread of
disease and to model the effects of illness and
treatment on the human body.
- Audio software engineer and digital signal processing
 Most of today's music is produced using synthesisers
and digital processors to correct pitch or add
effects to the sound. These tools are created
by audio software engineers who work out ways
of manipulating the digital sound, by using a
mathematical technique called Fourier analysis.
This is part of the area of digital signal processing
(DSP) which has many other applications including
speech recognition, image enhancement and
data compression.
- Meteorologist and climate prediction
Meteorologists use mathematics to model the
factors that affect the weather to make short-term
predictions. They also study how continuing climatic
changes will influence our future environment
and all living species.
Rather confusingly, this
is part of an area of mathematics called fluid
mechanics: in this case,
the "fluid" is the atmosphere. "Partial
differential equations" are used to model
the flow of fluid and to find patterns governing
its behaviour.
- Racecar designer and aerodynamics
 To make a car go faster you need to improve
its aerodynamics, and this requires mathematics
to describe the motion of the air as the car
drives through it, and how that motion affects
the car's performance. This area of mathematics
is also used to understand flight and can even
improve sporting performance.
- Actuary and financial mathematics
Actuaries use maths and statistics to make financial
sense of the future. For example, if an organisation
is embarking on a large project, an actuary may
analyse the project, assess the financial risks
involved, model the future financial outcomes
and advise the organisation on the decisions
to be made. Much of their work is on pensions,
ensuring funds stay solvent long into the future,
when current workers have retired. They also
work in insurance, setting premiums to match
liabilities.
Mathematics is also used in many
other areas of finance, from banking and
trading in equities,
to producing economic forecasts and developing
government financial policies.
- Avalanche researcher and fluid dynamics
Understanding the conditions that result in
avalanches, and developing ways to predict when
they might occur, uses an area of maths called
fluid mechanics.
This is one of the most widely applied areas
of mathematics, and is also used in understanding
volcanic eruptions, flight, ocean currents and
even the stock market.
- And best of all!
And, obviously, if you want to go on to study
the subject of mathematics itself, all the maths
you have done in the past will play its part.
If you enjoy and even love studying mathematics,
then this is the best possible start to doing
well in your studies. Even if you don’t
feel positive towards the subject, building
up your mathematical
toolbox is bound to come in handy in the
future, regardless
of what you intend to study.
What use is maths in getting a job?
Look closer at the job ads and at the kinds of skills
employers are looking for:
- Problem solving skills,
- Conceptual and analytical
ability,
- Data handling and communication skills.
These
are transferable skills that are useful in any
job, and you can get all of them from studying
mathematics.
As well as problem solving and logical
thinking, maths enables you to communicate complicated
ideas
in a clear and unambiguous way.
Maths
is the language used in science, business and many
other areas to
express complex situations,
from
analysing costs versus profits to pulling together
all the factors affecting whether a structure will
stay up. Maths teaches you to handle and interpret
data, and ultimately teaches you how research—how
to do a thorough investigation.
Why
take advantage of a maths based degree?
Maths graduates earn more!
A
wide range of career options also means a chance
to earn more money: a
recent study, conducted by
economists at the University of Swansea, showed
that maths and computing degrees make the biggest
difference to lifetime earnings. On average, a
graduate of any degree can expect to earn £149,760
more in his or her lifetime than a person leaving
education with two A levels. For maths and computing
graduates, this figure rises to £225,179!
Many career paths!
With the knowledge of maths or statistics, you can
move into a wide variety of jobs, from oceanographer
to weather forecaster on TV.
These fields are by
no means the only routes that can be taken. In
fact, you'd be surprised at the
great diversity of jobs that are open to mathematicians;
from developing computer games to studying climate
change to working with a Formula One racing team
on aerodynamics.
In conclusion
All
the potential jobs featured on this page use maths,
but few of them have the words “mathematics” or “statistics” in
their titles.
No matter what job you go into, you'll soon realise
it would be surprising if you didn't find yourself
using maths, rather than the other way around!
The
examples above are just a few of the many careers
that mathematics can lead to and through the constant
integration of Maths and the applied principles
of maths it will teach one to : - Think
- Analyse
- Postulate
- Generate a solution
- Tests the solution
Thus,
these skills will ultimately give the individual
the aptitude and competence to stand out amongst
the crowd and be noticed, the skills to analyse
a situation and take advantage of opportunity
wherever it presents itself. |
