How can you apply algebra and calculus on real life situations?

Answer 1

Say you decide to start monitoring what you eat. You read the nutrition labels. You see that the container has 6 servings. Each serving is 200 calories. You want to lose weight, you think something less than 2000 calories per day would be great. So you think, hey, what if all I eat is this box of crap? You do some math, 6*200 ? 1200 < 2000
So you figured out you could eat a whole box of crap and be good. What if you decide to add variety? Say eating some other crap from a box that has 600 calories and 70% DRV of Sodium. You look at that other box and notice that each serving provides 10% DRV Sodium. How much can you eat of both if you want less than 2000 calories per day and want to have 100% or less of Sodium? Easy enough, apply some algebra (X*600 + Y*200) < 2000 AND (X*70 + Y*10) x must be less than 2 right? So only one serving of box 2 and no more than 3 serving from box 1.

There's your algebra.

But say you don't care what you eat. Let's say you've moved into a new apartment. The shelves are filthy. You wipe them down and then decide to put down some adhesive shelf liners. The shelves are all 16" deep and of various lengths, from 12" to 24". You go to the store and find rolls of liner. Unfortunately they only come in 12" and 24" by 6'. How many rolls would you need to buy to cover all your shelves? That's some algebra too. You've some know values and you want an unknown value. There's your algebra.

Say you want to make your own clothes. You'll need at least 1 yard of a certain material and 3 yards of another. You go to the store and get some prices. You find the larger material will cost you 13 dollars per yard, your budget is 50 dollars, how much do you have left for the other fabric? Will that be enough if you still need some thread and buttons and clasps? There's some more algebra.

Answer 2

Algebra yes there are formulas for calculating things like how many gallons of tar do you need to cover the roof of a house.

How many gallons of paint to paint my formal living room.

In calculus their would be things on the finance side like in exactly 5 years you want a $150,000 in a high interest accountt at 8 % compounded quarterly. You initial deposit is $ 60,000 how much should you deposit monthly to have $ 150,000 in 5 years ?

But to really understand these math applications you need to be professional like an actuary, engineer or scientist.

You may be a student and this is an excellent question. Some people think why do I need to know this when I have the computer ?

One my dad and mom bought a car and the deal looked good. Than my dad examined it. ( he a retired engineer ) He took the number of payments and the amount and added them up. The car dealership got sued for deceptive trade and settled.

Suppose you go on a turnpike that records what time you get on and what time you get off when you pay. The speed limit is 60 mph. You drive 240 miles in exactly 3 hours. When you get off the police officer at the toll both presents you with a speeding ticket, why ? Because you had to average 80 mph to drive 240 miles in 3 hours that's why !

Answer 3

Calculus is used in business, engineering, statistics and even medicine.

Algebra is even more common and is a foundation for calculus and its uses.

You are using calculus sometimes without even realising it.
A simple everyday example would be when you get in a car and it starts to move. The big dial in front of the driver, speedometer, is indicating what?
How fast you are moving, in math terms, the rate of change of distance over time, also how fast the needle moves up the dial, that is acceleration, you may have felt that sinking feeling in your seat when the car speeds up, that is the rate of change of speed over time. these concepts and others relate to calculus.

In algebra we solve for one or two or three variable that are constant but calculus takes into account the changes that can happen over time because things in real life are seldom static.

Hope this sheds some light on your question.

Answer 4

it depends on what job you're employed with. but in a normal life, i think you can't apply it.