How many times have you been sitting in a
math classroom and heard someone say,
"When are we ever going to use this stuff?"
Sometimes the teacher will just
turn to the class and say,
"Don't worry about that...just
learn how to do it!"
Of course, that's not the answer
we want to hear is it?
Some students (hopefully you are one of them),
actually would like to know why we learn
some of the math they teach in school.
In this lesson we won't be doing any actual computations. 
Instead, we will look at a number of examples
of where we might find many of the skills
you learn in a math class.
Maybe this will help you to see the importance of mathematics, and may actually encourage you
to connect the math you do in school with the math
we actually use in real life.
Let's brainstorm a list of things people do outside of school
that require that you do at least some arithmetic.

Balance their checkbook
Shop for groceries
Tip a waiter or waitress
Keeping score in a game
Cooking and baking
Making change
Figuring gas mileage
Calculating a sale price
Buying paint, wallpaper or carpet
Measuring lumber
Sewing/Knitting
and the list can go on and on and on...
Now your list might be a little different than this one,
but this one is typical, and clearly demonstrates that
many of the math skills you have already learned
will be used over and over again in your daily life.
 

Now, please click below to continue this
discussion into the different methods we use
for doing arithmetic calculations.

Click Here