[quote=svelte]Hate to break it to you all, but there aren’t that many people who really need math skills above oh say geometry to get by in life. There really aren’t.
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I enjoy math almost as much as you guys, but I certainly don’t use trig, calculus, linear algebra or statistics a great deal and have, in fact, forgotten alot of it.[/quote]
Math is not taught for its utilitarian value alone. It is supposed to develop and enhance skills like analytical and critical thinking. There are books that try to illustrate the point (A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper or Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences), but it’s really that simple – math is supposed to teach you how to think. Similar to how sports are promoted in schools not as a path to becoming a pro athlete, but a way to develop team spirit, endurance, coordination, cooperation and world peace…
