Maths in everyday life???

[Evax]

Hi can anyone out there give me some reallife every day examples where the following topics are used!
I am experiencing the "why" and "whats the point in learning this miss" questions off my students and I am trying to gather as many interesting ideas as possible, to help motivate and get rid of the mental block they have against maths...

Any suggestions welcome
-Vectors
-Trigonometry
-Co-ordinate Geometry

Thank you in advance to all who contribute.

[dsheller]

Well if you were a navigator on any type of vessel I imagine you would use all three of those, certainly vectors atleast. Almost all engineering fields would require you to use vectors, and trigonometry -- being only a first year electrical engineering student I can assure you that EE uses it heavily when discussing AC circuits! Trigonometry is also very useful if you are trying to build anything out of wood, unless you want to make boxes with butt joints you have to know some trigonometry. I can't think of anything else right now, but hopefully I will and and I'll respond later!

[dclamp]

In my Algebra Class, we have a poster that says "When will I ever use this" and it lists all the math types and tells when you will use it. I am sure you can find something online.

[penagate]

Physics, engineering, many other scientific fields; and you never know when the need might just pop up. Basically, maths is a life skill.

I think most kids have a mental block against maths because it's not introduced to them in ways that make them immediately see the benefit of it. (Notice how these same kids can count money. ) You just need to find a real-world example application for concept you teach. I am sure there are many ideas you could use from the field of physics alone.

[dclamp]

I actualy enjoy math, and because of it, i have an A+ in my math class. I plan to use my math skills sometime in life

[opus]

I'm training people to hunt/search submarines. The same techniques are used nowadays by the people looking after the whales.
We get frequency information from different points and calculate out of thew difference of those frequencies the position of the submarine/whale or whatvever is emitting the frequency.

[Evax]

Guys thanks so much for all your replies, I really appreciate it.
Hopefully I will be able to make Math class more interesting

If any of you have any specific, interesting examples, of any of the topics in action please let me know.


Thanks again!

[krtxmrtz]

Math is fun just for the hell of it, even if it were useless.

[VBAhack]

I use trig when designing wood projects to build, or for home repairs, like finding the length of a cross brace for the deck. I'm sure there are other hobbies that would use trig as well.

[18experience]

Once my teacher told us to bring examples of parabolas to class. One person brought a softball, and that person and my teacher tossed to ball back and forth. Each toss traced a parabola.

Therefore (assuming no wind) throwing a basketball traces a parabola, until it hits the hoop that is.

There a lots of real world examples. Just think about what your students are intersted in, and try to find some application of math that involves that.

[dclamp]

i looked at the chart in my class today, and Vectors are used by Airplane Pilots