WHY MUST STUDENTS LEARN MATH?

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Why Must Students Learn Math?

By: Julie Salvatore

ABSTRACT:
In this paper, I discuss why it is important for students to learn math and be able to apply it into
their daily lives and future careers. Algebra in particular is the focus of this paper. It is
discussed how algebra is the building block for more advanced math courses, formulas used,
slope/functions, exponents, and logarithms and how these topics can be applied to the real
world. Real world connections benefit students by motivating them to learn math and
understanding how to connect what they learned into the real world.

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Why Must Students Learn Math?

Learning math is so important for an individuals future success. Math makes up our
world, without it where would we be? Students seem to fear math and question why they have
to learn it. High school students state the famous question often which is, Why do I have to
learn this?. Answering this question is essential for students to be more motivated about
learning math, understanding its importance and where it will apply into their lives.
Mathematical literacy is when a person is able to apply mathematical knowledge into the
outside world and their lives. Our society has way too many people who are not mathematically
literate. According to the Journal of Mathematics Education Volume 4, Mathematical deficiency
seems to be common in our society and the mathematics illiteracy is particularly alarming,
especially in the context of our countrys poor showing on recent international comparison tests.
(Ojose, 2011, p. 90) Something has to be done to change this and it starts in the classroom. A
mathematically literate person can communicate with mathematics being able to solve problems
that appear in daily life, and interpret and reason with graphs and data. These are some of the
things that are taught in a high school math classroom. Society is becoming more and more

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technology based and along with this comes an even more need for math literacy because
technology involves a lot of math. To work in these fields people need to be problem solvers,
and be able to process, manipulate, and communicate with numbers. Confidence and
competence in mathematics leads to productive participation in todays complex information
society and often opens doors of opportunities to those who possess them. (Ojose, 2011, p.
91) Math is key to keeping up with the changing economy and society of today. In the Journal
of Mathematics Education Volume 4, a newspaper article was taken where the author was
clearly not a mathematically literate person. This authors understanding regarding percentages
was lacking and made the article weak. The information was not presented in a clear way and
was incorrect. A line from the article reads, 1 out of 25, which means 25% of our citizens.
This statement from the article is completely wrong. 1 out of 25 is not 25%, but only 4%! This
makes a major difference. Even though this person was a newspaper reporter, an
understanding of percentages was needed which this person lacked (Ojose, 2011).
Numbers are everywhere. The world could not function without numbers. Numbers are
involved in everything. No one can avoid numbers completely in life. Being able to work with
numbers and manipulate them your self will positively affect your life and decisions you make in
the future. If you think about cooking when you use a recipe and want to double or half the
amount the recipe produces, you use math to figure out the amount of ingredients you will need.
Measurements, directions, music, time, money, baking- everything involves numbers. Buildings,
bridges, nothing could be built without the use of math. Many different fields involve math, for
example careers in the medical field, business, science, technology, and engineering. You do

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not want math to be a factor holding you back from what you want as a future career. When a
person is able to work with numbers and does not fear math, they will be able to make smarter
decisions as an adult. Most people do agree that learning basic math like arithmetic is
important, but do not believe that the content in high school math courses is as important. This
is false and heres why:
Algebra is an example of a high school math course. Algebra is usually taken in 9th
grade. We can use algebra as an example to show the importance of content learned in high
school math courses. To start off, algebra is the building block for other math classes like
geometry, trigonometry, pre-calculus, and calculus, but it is also important for everyday life. To
get a job in many fields advanced math courses are required and without learning algebra it will
be hard to move forward in any other math course. Mastery of algebra in particular is a critical
step to enrollment and success in a college preparatory math sequence that can include
trigonometry, pre-calculus, and calculus. (Snipes & Finkelstein, 2015, p. 1) You do not want to
be kept from doing a particular job or entering a particular field/program because of math
holding you back, and algebra is the key to becoming proficient in more advanced math courses
(Snipes & Finkelstein, 2015).
A large part of algebra is based on formulas. Being able to understand and apply
formulas is crucial in the future. For example, there are formulas to calculate temperatures from
Celsius to Fahrenheit, or formulas for area or perimeter. These formulas learned in algebra can
be applied into life. When you are buying a home someday in the future and you want to get
furniture for your living room finding out the area of the room would be helpful. This is so you

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will know how much space you have. Another example is when you want to put up a fence, the
perimeter of the backyard must be known to figure out how many fences should be ordered to
cover the whole perimeter of your yard. People can rely on others to do these calculations for
them, but ultimately not relaying on others would be best. If they make a mistake and you buy a
bigger couch then can fit in your new living room, you have no one to blame but yourself
because if you paid attention in algebra class this would not have happened. You do not want to
rely on others to do things for you. Also you are less likely to be fooled by what others tell you if
you personally can do the calculations yourself (Usiskin, 1995).
Another real life example with formulas would be with interest rates. People borrow
money from banks all the time to take out loans for large purchases like a car or house. Most
people pay this money back to the bank monthly meaning they pay a little bit every month until
they have paid the bank back the money they have borrowed plus the amount of interest. The
interest rate is usually given by the yearly rate and not the monthly rate. There is a formula to
calculate the amount you will pay monthly. It is important to understand and be able to apply
this formula yourself because you may not be able to find a table with the exact rate that you are
looking for. Also depending on how many years it will take you to pay back the loan depends on
how much money you will pay monthly. With the interest growing the longer it takes you to pay
back the loan, you want to make sure you get the right plan for you. Being able to calculate
interest rates is a big part of it! The formula to calculate the monthly payment would be:

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P=Ax^m(x-1/x^m-1) where x=1+r/1200. A stands for the amount of money borrowed, m stands
for the amount of months it takes to pay back, and r is the annual rate. Without a good
understanding of algebra this formula would be hard to work with (Usiskin, 1995).
Other algebra topics that are applied into the real world and will help students to see
these connections that will answer their question of Why do I need to learn this? are with
functions and slopes. When any quantity depends on another we have a function. Slope is the
rate at which a function is changing, so any number that changes at a particular rate has a
slope. There is tons of real life examples that can be represented by a function. For example in
business, how much the company's income will increase based on the amount of items
produced. Or a more personal example like how your budget is affected based off your
spending habits. These statements can be shown through the use of a function and a slope.
Another topic in algebra is exponents. When a quantity grows at a constant percent of
itself this would be considered exponential. Exponential growth is found in the real world in
many ways. Examples are with interest rates (car, mortgage, credit card payments), retirement
funds, life insurance, and population sizes. As you can see this ties into the real world and in
fields of work like finance, accounting, and environmental issues.
Another topic that will be covered is logarithms. Many students questions why they
would have to learn logarithms, but logarithms are very important for the real world. For
example logarithms are used in the Richter scale used for earthquakes, the Ph scale to
determine acidity which will be used in chemistry class, and many other statistical scales. The
question, How long will it take money that was invested at 5% to double? needs logarithms to

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be answered. We can see how algebra is playing a big role in the real world and why students
have to study this subject (Usiskin, 1995).
Showing students real life connections in class will answer their question of Why do I
have to learn this?. Real-world connections are expected to have many benefits, such as
enhancing students understanding of mathematical concepts, motivating mathematics learning,
and helping students apply mathematics to real problems, particularly those arising in the
workplace. (Gainsburg, 2008, p. 199-200) Showing students and doing math problems in class
that connect to the real world is so beneficial for students. When students see how a topic
connects to their life they will be more motivated to learn it and it helps students make that
important connection of what they learned and being able to bring that into the outside world.
Studies document the increasing importance of mathematical literacy in the modern workplace
and the need for workers to understand the meaning of their calculations in the context of work.
(Gainsburg, 2008, p. 200) By using real world problems in class students will be able to better
understand how what they learned connects to the context of something in the outside world
and in their future work.
In conclusion, I hope students can see the importance of learning mathematics in
particularly algebra. The amount of people who are mathematically illiterate needs to decrease
and this starts in the classroom. Teachers making real world connections through the learning
of mathematics will help motivate students to learn math and answer the question of, Why do I
have to learn this? that so many students ask.

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WHY MUST STUDENTS LEARN MATH?

Word Count: 1791 (pages 2-6 only)

Work Cited

Gainsburg, J. (2008). Real-world connections in secondary mathematics teaching. Journal of

Mathematics Teacher Education, 11(3), 199-219.
Ojose, B. (2011). Mathematics Literacy: Are We Able To Put The Mathematics We Learn Into
Everyday Use?. Journal of Mathematics Education, 4(1), 89-100.
Snipes, J., & Finkelstein, N. (2015). Opening a Gateway to College Access: Algebra at the Right
Time. Research Brief. Regional Educational Laboratory West.
Usiskin, Z. (1995). Why is algebra important to learn. American Educator, 19(1), 30-37.