Why Students Learn Math? — Aspiration and Advisory

Many students across the world have a hard time guessing why universities put math classes into default learning programs. It can make sense for technical and engineering specialties. However, why do linguists, philosophers, or artists need it?

Analytical Thinking

One of the first reasons why math is included in most learning programs is to teach students analytic thinking. The idea is to give students a generic list of steps to solve various types of problems.

First, a student has to understand the type of the problem. Math offers its own list (algebra, geometry, etc), but this approach works equally well for any other real-life problem. Let’s say you have a problem with a leaking pipe and you need a plumber to fix it.

Second, a student may consider multiple approaches to fix it. Sometimes he has to use only one (e.g. arithmetic), and sometimes the combination of multiple approaches works the best (e.g. arithmetic plus algebra). For example, you can first put a bucket under a leaking pipe, then apply a temporary fix using duct tape, and finally call the plumber to do a proper fix.

Finally, a student can guess which approach works best without even trying them all. It can save a lot of time and effort, and significantly improve the overall performance. So, you can temporarily fix the leaking pipe using a fabric, glue, or duct tape, and it’s clear that the duct tape works the best.

Additional Branches

Many students, especially those from the technical and engineering specialties, often require much more than general arithmetics in their professional lives. Let’s have a look at the most typical areas.

Probability theory is used to give students a general idea of how random events and processes work. They learn formulas and approaches to calculate probability in different areas under different circumstances. This knowledge often comes in handy for pretty much all specialties.

Mathematical statistics is a branch that applies probability theory to real-life situations to solve general and specific tasks. Students learn how to collect the data, process it, and use it to achieve specific results. These skills are in high demand in business, financial, and other real-life areas.

Discrete mathematics gives students more abstract concepts that can be applied to solve various tasks. They are learning binary logic, graph theory, state machines, and other theoretical areas that explain real-life processes. This knowledge is especially useful for mathematicians and software engineers.

Foundation For Other Areas

Mathematics and its branches build a foundation for other areas. So, a career in these areas will always require advanced-to-expert mathematical skills to achieve significant results.

Let’s start with physics and astronomy. Both these areas heavily rely on a mathematical basis to calculate the parameters of real-life processes. They also often use the same research methods and approaches.

Next, we have all types of engineering. No matter if you’re an architect and designing the buildings, or you are a software developer and writing the code. You still have to know mathematics well and have additional knowledge in related areas.

Finally, we have all the financial areas. Accounting, financial analysis, investment, stock market: all these areas use math to calculate gains and losses, financial metrics and KPIs, various indicators, etc. Imagining a financial specialist without a good understanding of mathematics and some related areas is impossible.

So, here is a quick overview of why people of different specialties may need to know math. Use this information as an inspiration if a student asks why you need to know math next time.