Usefulness

[Law Lord]

I folks, I have no back ground in maths other than the stuff compul taught at High School as compulsary. This is because until recently I didn't have an interest in it... now I do.

I am presently a Law Student but am thinking about studying mathematics/physics in addition to this.

My question is, do you find your advanced knowledge of Maths useful in everyday life?

I intend to be a Lawyer, not a Mathematician so my main use for suc a skill would be for everyday things, like how to solve a rubiks cube, or working out the probability of something happening.

What do you use maths for?

[Tormod]

I don't have much math beyond high school (apart from a physics class in acoustics back in college) but I find it useful to be able to use percentages, do quick calculcations regarding prices, distances etc, and understand volumes and so on. I also find it useful when I help my oldest daughter with her homework (second grade!) .

I reckon math is very useful in a lot of situations and also in a lot of jobs - if you want to go into law there may well be many good reasons to have a physics/math background as well. You never know which combinations will work but you may find that you have something unique that others don't... My take on education is basically, if you want to study something, go for it. It's the best motivation there is. Life will sort itself out.

[sanctus]

If playing social games is part of everyday life, then playing yatzee (or however it is spelled in english) probability helps quite a lot (like is it more likely to throw with 3 dice one number or with 1 dice one of 2 given numbers).

Also sometimes it helps in understanding some statistics read in some newspaper, for example 20% of the 50% who were not agreeing with at least 75% of the points stated in a given thing also don't like dogs...it helps you to actually figure out for example how many do like dogs...

[alexander]

If you are a gambler, then advanced mathematics and physics can be extremely great part of your success at the casinos. Look at early 90s and MIT students bringing down Las Vegas casinos, that was all purely math. Now, knowing advanced math can win you world championship Poker titles!

[alexander]

it all depends on what aspect of life you wanna look into

[Kutan]

Originally Posted by Law Lord

I intend to be a Lawyer, not a Mathematician so my main use for suc a skill would be for everyday things, like how to solve a rubiks cube, or working out the probability of something happening.

You can solve a Rubik's Cube with Math?

[Nootropic]

heh, I thought I was somewhat a late bloomer in the math and sciences. I always had a vague interest in math, but it definitely took a backseat to things like sports. But with a high-school career ending injury, I soon rediscovered the love (and skill) I had for math as a second-grader the summer before my senior year in high school. It's nice to see people who want to physics or mathematicians aren't always people (as you see so commonly) who have been raised on a strict diet of calculus straight out of the womb and knew from their first conscious moment that's what they wanted to do.

As for the usefulness, there are some pure mathematical concepts that have surprising usefulness, but sometimes there is no application that can be considered useful. Number theory, while not totally useless in the real world, does a handful of applications. And a common misconception about math is that it is largely computation. Just as architecture is no longer the art of tossing some sticks together, math is no longer the art of computing for the sake of computing.

[Zythryn]

I found mathematics to be very useful in terms of the method of problem solving it taught.
The same principles/logic can be benificial in many problems outside of mathematics. I'll second, or third, the benifits of statistics as well