Mathematics Free Essays

Math has been developed to aid human understanding .More the math associated with a subject, better is our quantitative understanding of the subject. Calculus is a great tool in this regard. We will write a custom essay sample on Mathematics or any similar topic only for you Order Now If we look at individual tools of mathematics they may fail to be useful. But when different branches of mathematics are used together they will definitely help in all subjects. One more thing â€Å"If we don’t use a tool doesn’t mean that it’s useless, There are many things that can be done with it but we don’t require it in everyday life so we just don’t use them.† Specifically looking at examples :-   1) Minister  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   : one of his main job is campaigning. He should campaign more in areas where he has chances of winning than in areas where he is sure to win. This can be found out by survey of last elections, general notion prevailing among people that time. He must also campaign in areas where there’s high probability of people turning up for his lecture and for voting. When he becomes minister, he has to look for the development of the region. This involves all branches of mathematics. His long term aims, promises etc. Fore most is to manage the funds available. Suppose he decides to construct a bridge or flyover or any such Infrastructure project, he has to think of funds for construction. If he keeps some toll tax than how much should he keep? This can be decided by how many people would use it everyday? How much he is targeting to collect? Inflation etc.etc. This all are determined using calculus. 2) Kindergarten teacher : She has to look on child’s growth. Some child can catch things fast. It’s not needed to spend a lot of time on them. Teachers should concentrate more on average child. Also it is sure that not everyone will understand all the things. So teacher has to do some calculations as to when be the right time to move to next topic. If she plots a graph of ‘how many people have understood versus time.’ Definitely she would get a Gaussian curve. This will come handy for subsequent classes. She can ask some simple question to all students and carry out this survey. Also, marks scored by students will have a Gaussian curve shape. Now suppose she has to convert it some other grading standards. (Example from a scale of 100 to relative grading of scale of 10).It would be good for her to know of calculus. She can figure out How much area (integration) is covered by the above mentioned graph?   How much percentage of people are present in which area? What is the average grade she wants to keep etc. etc. These are some of things which directly come to my mind. Tell students to think more in this line and they will surely find out more uses. Or better still put some enthusiastic calculus teacher in the above post for a day and He/she will think of a 100 more uses. Someone may argue that they are specific cases but remind them that jobs not only require to be proficient in everyday work but of special cases also which are likely to be encountered. How to cite Mathematics, Essay examples Mathematics Free Essays If the cost of a cell phone has decreased 400% during the past 10 years, does that correspond to a cost decrease of four times? Explain your answer as though you were talking to someone who has never taken algebra. I’m not 100% if I understand the question correctly, but I think it does. Some of the math terminology is confusing me a little, because the text states that â€Å"of† usually means multiplication. We will write a custom essay sample on Mathematics or any similar topic only for you Order Now Anyway, if the cost of a cell phone has decreased 400% during the last 10 years, it does correspond to a cost decrease of four times. Think of it this way, 10 years ago, if the cost of a cell phone was $500 and now the cost is only $100, you can use the following formula to see it visually. 500 –x = 100. (x=400). If we add 500 to both sides of this equation, and then subtract 100 from each side, we are left with 400. What are the four steps for solving an equation? Should any other factors be accounted for when solving an equation? Should any factors be accounted for when explaining how to solve an equation? Explain your answer. Four steps for solving an equation are, 1. Combining like terms; using the distributive property to clear any parentheses on each side of the equation. 2. Isolating the terms that contain the variable; using the addition property of equality to get all of the terms containing the variable to one side of the equation and all of the other terms on the other side of the equation. 3. Isolate the variable you want to solve for; using the multiplication property of equality to isolate the variable by multiplying each side of the equation by the reciprocal of the number in front of the variable(this could also be divide each side). 4. Substitute your answer into the original equation; check the solution by substituting it in the given equation. The order of operations which is PEMDAS and stands for, â€Å"Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication and Division, and Addition and Subtraction,† should still be a factor during the process. If you are working with multiple operations, solve them from left to right. How to cite Mathematics, Papers Mathematics Free Essays In regards to how much I feel I improved my knowledge and skills of advanced math during this course, I sadly have to say none whatsoever. I am just as frustrated with math at the end of this course as I was when I started. I did put an honest effort into trying to learn the material as best I could. We will write a custom essay sample on Mathematics or any similar topic only for you Order Now I thought that since I had not taken math since high school nearly ten years ago, I would grasp the concepts easier. Apparently I was wrong. I honestly believe that as lackluster as my performance for this course was, that I could not have done any better. I have never had to use any algebraic concept outside of the classroom, and I believe that this contributes to why these concepts do not stick in my mind and do not make sense. They never have and I’m guessing they probably never will. I know I was not successful in implementing any of the courses. But again, these are concepts that I have never had to use in my everyday life. I have never had to use them in any job I have ever held either. I am never going to be an architect, a nuclear engineer, a computer scientist, or do anything that requires me to do implement anything in these courses. This is mainly because I do not have the intellect to break into these career fields, or any other decent paying job for that matter. Therefor I do not understand why I should be forced to â€Å"learn† concepts that are completely useless to me. Again, I have never once had to use algebra outside of the classroom. Any time I have had to solve some sort of a logic-based issue, I have done so without knowing linear equations, functions, graphs, or sets. I have solved problems on my own or with the help of others without any knowledge of algebra, and I don’t suspect that will change anytime soon. How to cite Mathematics, Essay examples Mathematics Free Essays The most common error committed by students is the sign error.   Consider, for example the following instance.   A seventh grade teacher is to provide instruction in the multiplication of signed numbers. We will write a custom essay sample on Mathematics or any similar topic only for you Order Now The teacher walks through the room, observing progress of each student as they work on a number of sample problems at their seats. The teacher notices that several students consistently make the following error: (-5) x (-6) = -30. One misconception is that the students think that signs do not matter.   In solving these kinds of problems, they tend to disregard the number signs.   This might be because of lack of knowledge of the concept.   The teacher may not have given the importance of number signs.   In this regard, the teacher should give the reason why they should not disregard number signs.   This will help students be more careful in solving numbered signs because they know its importance. Another is that some students tend to believe that since the sum of two negative numbers is a negative then their product might also be a negative number.   Students may overlook the details on the difference between adding and multiplying negative numbers.   The teacher, for this matter, may have not emphasized or given a thorough detail on multiplying a negative number.   This misconception can be diminished if the teacher gives the difference between adding and multiplying negative numbers.   This will help students to keep in mind that the product of two negative numbers is NOT a negative number since they know that multiplying two negative numbers is different from adding two negative numbers. There are many other underlying causes on why students commit this common error.   One major reason is because teachers often overlook the details and skip the important ones.   This error may be reduced if teachers emphasize on the details especially the importance of what they are doing. SOURCES: Ball, D. L., Hill, H. C., Bass, H. (2005). Knowing Mathematics for Teaching. American Educator. Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences. (2001). The Mathematical Education for Teachers. Providence RI and Washington DC: American Mathematical Society and Mathematical Association of America. Misconceptions in Mathematics: Calculations with Negative Numbers.  Ã‚   Retrieved November 1, 2006 Patterns of Error. (2002).  Ã‚   Retrieved November 1, 2006, from http://math.about.com/library/weekly/aa011502a.htm Schechter, E. (2006). The Most Common Errors in Undergraduate Mathematics.  Ã‚   Retrieved November 1, 2006, from http://www.math.vanderbilt.edu/~schectex/commerrs/#Signs Yetkin, E. (2003). Student Difficulties in Learning Elementary Mathematics. ERIC Digest.  Ã‚   Retrieved November 1, from http://www.ericdigests.org/2004-3/learning.html                   How to cite Mathematics, Essay examples