Too often, I go dumbfounded at the billing section in a shopping store, and happen to easily believe whatever the salesman asks me to pay. I never calculate myself, mostly because neither do I have the patience, nor do I have the prowess to add, subtract, multiply, or divide numbers chop-chop in a single go. Calculators are my thing! I never exercised my math abilities in front of others – I was never good at it (actually, I sucked!). But is that all about mathematics? Do you need it only at a shopping store? Is it limited to just adding or subtracting numbers? Absolutely not. I was ignorant, not to have realized the ubiquity of mathematics in daily life, and the reasons behind it being one subject that is known to transcend all boundaries in terms of culture.

So, that really makes me wonder, what actually is the importance of mathematics in daily life? Of course, you need not use the properties of logarithms, algebra, and trigonometry to sort out your daily issues, but then, you need mathematics to sustain from day to night. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the following section.

Use of Mathematics in Daily Life

What time do you wake up in the morning? 7 am? What if it’s 6:50 am? You’ll thank the Almighty for getting 10 minutes of extra sleep, wouldn’t you? Well, did you notice that we used a tad-bit of mathematics here? The watch is the most common and the most wide-spread example of using math in everyday life. Just think about it, had there been no watches and clocks in the world, the word ‘discipline’ would have lost its existence forever. Read the rest of this entry »