A Short Explanation of How Math Helps in the Real World

Math, now that is a word that is bound to spark some really strong emotions. Many people do not enjoy doing math because of how it is thought in school. That is a totally valid argument and stance to have since there are many errors in many of the schooling systems. It is quite unfortunate that this is the case because math is not an evil spawn how it is usually depicted.

The reason why so many people hate math is that they think it is useless. This can not be further from the truth, math is remarkably useful. If it were not for math, you would not be able to read this on your screen. You would not be able to read anything on a screen or operate any kind of machine. The best way of explaining how math helps in the real world is through some application examples.

Astronomy

Math is really good at predicting the motion of almost any object there is. With the right amount of data and input, and with a good kinematic-equations, you can predict the motion of an accelerated object. You probably learned about these equations at school during a physics class in a much more simple form. There is a big chance that you forgot about it because there were no adequate examples of where it is used.

In astronomy, it is crucial to know how a body in space moves and where it will be. In order to know where the asteroid will be, it is important to determine its acceleration and velocity. This is where these equations come into play. By knowing these parameters, an orbit of a certain celestial body can be calculated. By knowing this orbit, a space rocket can determine which route is the safest for space travel. It can know this long, very long before being even close to the asteroid due to a correctly calculated orbit.

Quantum chemistry

Thinking about quantum physics is a really hard thing to do for two reasons. One, the whole concept of quantum behavior is not comprehensible for the human mind. The other one is the math that explains this behavior is also pretty complicated. A good way to start understanding these concepts and the math behind it all is surprisingly quantum chemistry.

Quantum chemistry is a field of science that uses quantum physics and math to predict the motion of electrons. It is very important to predict the motion of electrons that make up molecular orbitals. This is important because the whole point of chemistry is the exchange of electrons between chemicals. With the right math applied to this field, it is possible to predict how any kind of compound will react. With this, it could be possible to develop perfect medicine for any kind of disease there is.

Programing

This was briefly mentioned in the introduction and is something that should be touched upon more. Programming is unimaginable without math, there is no way around it. Math is important here because it serves as a language in which a machine can communicate. The signals a computer reads or operates upon are nothing more than just a passage of electrical current. In order to read that current in a sensible way, math is needed to decipher those signal patterns in current.

That is what a piece of coding is and what a computer does. Nothing more than just an elaborate way of how current goes through the processor and how it is processed. Without math to decipher it, it would be impossible to read any kind of message. It would be impossible to do any kind of more complicated equations needed for previous hard tasks. It all becomes even more interesting when quantum computers start to be introduced. But, this is just a brief introduction where it is impossible to talk more about such complicated topics.

These were just three examples and short explanations of how useful math is. It is hard to imagine not only these but any kind of scientific field without the help of math. When you are thinking about math through applicative examples, it becomes much more fun does it not? Many people are not good at conveying this type of information, mostly because they do not understand it as well.

That should not be the reason why you should always have a negative stand towards math. It is never a reason to hate something just because it was badly introduced to you. With that type of thinking, you are just limiting yourself from experiencing so much beauty this world can offer. Even if you revise something again from a new perspective and still do not like it, that is totally ok and reasonable.

p538428
Login/Register access is temporary disabled