It's not uncommon to hear a student say, "I've talked to people who have the job I want, and they say they don't
ever use the mathematics they were required to take for their degree. Why do I have to take Math if I'll never use it?"
First of all, Mathematics includes lots of practical skills. Nurses frequently need to calculate dosages for patients of varying
sizes and Civil Engineers need to understand resonance frequencies when they design bridges. Nobody who thinks about it would want
to get a fatal overdose from a nurse who never learned how to calculate the right dosage, even if giving that nurse a job means
lowering the unemployment rate or lowering the cost of nursing care. In the same way, nobody wants to drive across a bridge that's
likely to collapse in a wind storm just because the designer didn't understand the math.
But more than just teaching a collection of practical skills, Mathematics helps develop logic and critical thinking skills that
will help you make sense of your chosen discipline. In fact, no matter what your discipline, from accounting to zoology,
mathematics has been used to make advances in the field. Why? Because mathematics is a precise language that helps clarify
assumptions and define relationships.
"But for the job I want I'll never use it." Are you sure? If you only learn the minimal set of skills for one
particular job, you are stuck. Workers today need to be more flexible and able to adapt. You need to be prepared to learn new
skills and gain more knowledge about your profession. Understanding mathematics unlocks the door to understanding your profession
in depth.