my dad said alga-bra is a waste of time unless you plan on being a doctor or work for NASA?

Question

my did took 2 years of it and he said he hasnt used it since he makes great money over $80,000 a year has a welder,/steel worker

Answer 1

my mom used to say that also..she worked for the forest service surveying trees and one day i showed her how 90% of her work was algebra, she was floored she had been doing algebra everyday and didn't even realize it

Answer 2

Your Dad may be a great welder, but he's wrong. Not only is algebra useful in and of itself, the actual learning of it is good for the development of your brain.

Presumably, with an $80,000 a year income and you old enough to be studying algebra, your dad has already paid off the mortgage and has no consumer (credit card or car loan) debt. If he DOES, then maybe he should have learned more in algebra class!

Answer 3

It is possible to defend both sides of this issue. I personally would argue that it's not a waste of time because it helps you learn a shorthand that will help you make sense of some mathematical notation that you may encounter in the future. You can't really predict what your future will hold, so it's simply good to have a healthy curiosity about everything.

What bothers me is that many people are made to suffer through way too many exercises on factoring, simplification of expressions and other manipulations that I think are better done with machines nowadays.

Many students go through algebra and then quit studying math. It's quitting right after you've gone through the trouble of learning the shorthand that makes it seem pointless. I wish folks would be given a better picture of what higher levels of mathematics are like before they bail out.

Answer 4

Algebra is very useful, even for everyday situations like figuring your taxes, balancing your checkbook, planning trips, remodeling your house, etc. While all these things can be figured by ordinary math, algebra helps to turn it into short, smart math.

Now, advanced calculus may not be necessary unless you plan to go into engineering. The way I see it, though, no knowledge is useless. Learning things exercises your brain and makes you smarter all the way around. Even if you are learning something you won't use again, you are getting smarter, and everyone can use that.

Answer 5

Mathematics is used widely in :-
Civil Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Electronic Engineering
Physics
Aeronautical Engineering
Radiology
Space travel

Mathematics is also crucial to the theory behind mobile phones and computers.
Does you dad have a mobile phone?
Does your dad have a computer?
Television?
I-pod?

Good luck to you and your dad.
Happy New Year.

Answer 6

Algebra is a problem-solving technique. The problems your dad has to solve while working most likely can be expressed algebraically... but are not by any means the only way they can be solved. My guess is he probably does use algebra (especially with proportions or unit conversions) without realizing it.

Answer 7

Well, you will be like these guys who asked on yahoo ansers:

--I am prego for 15 weeks. how many months is in 15 weeks?

-- with a condom you have 95% chances not to get prego, with morning pill 99%. So you have 4-5% chances to be pregnant.

--what time is 16:45?

Answer 8

algebra also needed to get the certification to skilled labor jobs, especially learning areas and volumes of buildings etc.

Answer 9

i appreciate your father`s opinion but who say that NASA doesn`t use algebra