Why Math General Test Prep 2009 2010

Why Math? ? ? “General Test Prep” 2009/2010

Yeah, Good Question!!! • On a piece of paper, write out all the reasons that math is important… Give examples of How you use math, or how you Will use math in your life…. Give examples of ways you Might use math in your future. • (Put your name and period on it – it’s an assignment)

OK – now tell me

How do I use math in my Life • Get paid (did they do it right? ) • Get sick leave / Use sick leave (make sure I have enough) • Pay the bills (Mortgage, Electric, Gas, Car insurance, Land Tax… Credit Cards ) • Pay taxes – did they take out enough, do I get a refund, do I have to pay ? • Buy things at the store, buy gas,

• Figure out interest on my credit cards, mortgage, savings account… • Calculating the mileage and cost per mile of driving my car (not counting maintenance and insurance) • Balancing the checkbook!!! Making sure I have enough money for what I want to buy. • Have you noticed, I haven’t even talked about science or school or grades yet!

• Doing the groceries, figuring out the best deals, cost of bananas, potatoes, rice, etc. and making sure it adds up to something I can afford. • How much more do I owe on my house, my car, my credit cards…. When will I get them paid off. • How many kilometers did I travel last year? How many countries have I been to? How many to go? How far is it from home to school? How much gas is used, how much does that cost? • How much over the speed limit am I?

Yeah, I could go on! • Grades / Adding / Averaging / Percentage / Pass / Fail / A / B / C / D / F • Average grade for the class – is the class doing better or worse – percentage of class that is passing or failing – percentage of class with A – comparison to Gaussian Curve (Normal Curve)

“When you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it. But when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meager and unsatisfying kind. It may be the beginning of knowledge but you have scarcely in your thoughts advanced to the state of science” William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, 1824 -1907

Galileo said: Philosophy is written in this grand book, the universe which stands continually open to our gaze. But the book cannot be understood unless one first learns to comprehend the language of mathematics, and its characters are triangles, circles, and other geometric figures. Without a knowledge of them, it is humanly impossible to understand a single word of it. Without these, one wanders about in a dark and obscure labyrinth. ” Galileo – in The Assayer

“Iron rusts from disuse, stagnant water loses its purity, and in cold weather becomes frozen, even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind. ” Leonardo da Vinci 1452 -1519

“Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living; the world owes you nothing; it was here first. ” Mark Twain

“Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle. ” Abraham Lincoln

“Wisdom comes from making good decisions. Good decisions come from experience. Experience comes from making bad decisions. ” Anonymous

Disclaimer Aloha I put together these power points for use in my science classes. You may use them in your classes. Some images are public domain, some are used under the fair-use provisions of the copyright law, some are mine. Copyright is retained by the owners! Ted Brattstrom