Do you think prealgerbra is nessasary?

Answer 1

if you dont want to work at mcdonalds

Answer 2

In the real world the only math problems you are going to see are algebra word problems and harder. So unless you want to live in the Dark Ages algebra and pre-algebra are very necessary.

You have $1,000 in the bank and you want to figure out if you can pay your bills this month. How much money do you have after paying your bills? That is a very simple algebra problem. You could probably do it today, but what if you were required to include the interest on your credit cards. If you only pay the minimum payment it will take you many years to pay it off and cost a lot of money. Your electric bill and phone bill change from month to month, so you can’t use the same budget all the time, and how much money can you save for your Christmas vacation. Now the problem gets even harder.

You want to figure out if you can afford a car. The down payment is $10,000 and you make $5,000 per month. Can you afford the car payments, and pay your bills, while you keep eating, what about the insurance, and how long do you need to pay off the car. The longer time you take to pay it off, the more interest you have, and the more expensive the car is. How do you determine when you can afford that car?

Since a person falls at 32'/second how fast will a person be falling if they slip off a 2 story building? What would be the impact strength if they fell on concrete, and how much force can their bodies withstand before getting injured. How much safety net will you need? All these are algebra problems.

You need to put up safety netting to stop the dirt from flowing off your construction site down into the drain. The stronger the net the more expensive it will be. You have to put in an additional 1' of earth to flatten out the holes on the site. How much dirt will flow down the drain? How strong will the net have to be? How much extra dirt will you need? What is the maximum angle that you can use on your dirt to make sure it will remain standing. If the net breaks then the city will fine you for the dirt that goes down the drain, if you don't have enough dirt on the site then you can't start construction. Each dump truck rents a $200 per day, how many dump trucks are you going to need and for how long? What do you have to do to avoid paying the fine, and how much will it cost. Is there a cheaper way to do it.

You want to build a set of shelves, how much wood do you need? Which type of wood would be cheaper? How many nails or screws do you need? You can guess at all this and come out all right, but what if you have to build 24 sets of shelves for the library? You can't keep stopping work to go back to the store and buy more supplies, and if you have extra supplies then you have no place to store them. You also need to give the library an estimate on how much it will all cost. Meanwhile the construction firm down the road is making their own estimate. If they are cheaper than you are then they will get the job and get paid, but if you are too cheap on your estimate then you be unable to finish the job with a profit. If you only have one week to finish the job then how many other workers will you need, and what are their pay rates? Is it cheaper to hire a carpenter or two instead of hiring cheaper laborers? Or what kind of mix would you want to hire; how about one carpenter and several laborers?

All of these problems and many more require algebra. Then there is Trigonometry. No plot of land is exactly square and level, so you need Trig to figure out where the land sits, how much dirt you will need to add or subtract from the site etc.

Look at a jug of milk. The container has to hold only 1/2 gallon or one gallon. It isn't a square container, the edges are curved, it narrows at the neck, and the handle can hold milk. The only way to figure out the volume is with calculus, which compares to algebra like a high school book compares with the ones you first used to learn to read. If your are producing 5,000 of these containers how much plastic will you need, and how thick will the walls of the container have to be. Milk is mostly water and that is a very heavy material, plus water can’t be compressed. A gallon of water with 50,000 psi (pounds per square inch) on it will take up that same amount of space as a gallon of water with only 2 psi on it. So determining the size and thickness of those milk containers is going to be very important. Since the lowest bidder is the one that gets the job, you have to do it as cheaply as possible. If a new way to make the containers is developed how do you determine if it is worth buying?

Physics is used from everything to determining the flight path of space ships, to determining how water flows though a stream, from calculating the strength of roof and floor supports to how big the compressor has to be for an air-conditioner unit to work in a building, or how many are needed. . All the advanced sciences require a strong basis in math, usually up to calculus. You can't do any of this without advanced math. It is a crime that schools don't have more realistic math problems, or that the teachers don't tell you how some of that math can be used in the real world.

If you want to get anywhere in the engineering or science fields then you need algebra, even fine art majors need it to do the daily calculations of life. Algebra is just as important as reading, only the real need for it comes up later in your career.

Answer 3

Like with anything else pretty much, you kinda need those basic knowledge skills to move on up. It prepares you for a more complicated approach, and since you already have the skills, the higher level class should be easier.

Answer 4

Yes

Answer 5

Yes because without prealgebra u would have no clue what you were doing in algebra and to pass high school and get a decent job then u have to take algebra, which involves having to take prealgebra, trust me!! i know

Answer 6

I am guessing you are under 18, but yes, pre-algebra AND algebra are necessary. I work in insurance and we actually use it quite frequently. Just do the work now and do your best. It will all be over soon -- too soon.

Answer 7

All elementary math is a precursor to Algebra. Algebra and Geometry are the math that make sense of our world.

Answer 8

it may not be... u kno i think the way we learn is by applyin it in the next class... like u can learn algebra but u wont really kno algebra until u take algebra 2... so it prolly is necessary

Answer 9

Only if you want to take Algebra

Answer 10

yes it is because it prepares you for what is ahead like Algebra!

Answer 11

yes, how will u be able to do regular algebra