Why math is important.

Math is a common language.

I have always enjoyed math, something which most people would never say.  While at UBC working on my education degree I chose to do an assessment on a random group of adults to see what their math skills were like.  Could they answer the questions properly and how did they feel about re-immersing into another math quiz after so many years.  I found few people got all the answers correct; many left portions of the sheet blank.  What surprised me the most though was the anxiety it produced.  It seemed that math was not their friend and its absence was not missed.

I taught quite a bit of Math in high school, mostly trades related, but also held classes for mainstream students.  There were those who got it right away and those who struggled the entire time.  A lot of success depended upon completing assignments and understanding concepts.  Regardless of what their level of success was, there always seemed to be an underlying question - "Why do we have to learn this?"

I tried to convey the concept at the beginning of each course to help the students understand what the ultimate purpose behind it all was.  I discovered they really didn't care; it was just an opportunity to voice discontent.  However, it got me thinking about why math is important.  There are certainly all the academic related answers, such as it being a prerequisite for other courses or programs and as a means to cull those that can't grasp some of the more esoteric concepts.  The big reason though has to do with developing the spacial side of the brain, to help facilitate critical thinking and problem solving skills, and because math is a common language that we should all be able to speak.

I have been looking at fixing up my deck.  It measures 16 feet by 12 feet and so I need 16 x 12 = 192 square feet of lumber.  I ran all over town looking into how I was going to repair it.  Many of the boards were somewhat rotten and needed to be either replaced or covered up somehow.  I looked at putting blocks on it, tiles, plywood and deck fabric, and even replacing it with new wood.  In order to compare prices, I used a square foot area measure.  One place had plastic tiles for $5.00/sq.ft.  Artificial boards were around $4.00/sq.ft. and cement blocks would be around $4.50/sq.ft.  

These were all beyond my price as it was looking to be $1000 for me to fix the problem.  Then I came to a local building store.  I went in, talked to some people, told them what I was looking for, and I was given the price of $2.25/sq.ft. for cedar deck boards.  Perfect!  Within my price range and it would look good.  So I had a plan.  I went home and started pulling boards off my deck.  Today I had to prep my jeep to haul the wood and so built a roof rack/hitch system to allow me to carry the lumber.  When it was all done I headed out to get the product.

I showed up at the order desk and told them I needed 10-16 foot planks and 16-14 foot planks.  They tallied it up for me and told me it would be about $980.  WHAT?  But, I was in yesterday and we had this discussion.  It turns out they gave me the price in linear feet rather than square feet; the price was more than double what I was originally told.  I remember communicating clearly that my values were in square feet, but I was out of luck.  They were not going to sell me a product below cost.  It came down to an error in communication.

It was an error in math - someone didn't know the difference between a linear foot and a square foot - an error that has really upset me.  I tore up my deck, built my system to carry the lumber, and went down there to be told the price was more than two times what I was promised.  I returned home with no lumber and discouraged.  I understand the nature of the mistake, that it wasn't intentional, and that there was no malice involved.  Clearly though, we weren't speaking the same language.  

Thanks for reading.   www.ericspix.com   Eric Svendsen