MATH IN

REAL LIFE!

NICHOLE WOUTERS

EDU 653

IT’S TRUE!

It’s true! We won’t be walking into a grocery store and have

to find the volume of a cereal box most of them time.

However, we will be calculating total cost, best price or deal,

including coupons and sales tax if necessary.

BUT-- there are points in our lives when math has been

extremely useful. Architecture, sports, science and

engineering use Math on a daily basis!

No matter what career choice, math can be seen all the time,

Picture by njhdiver on Flickr.

BUT WHERE?

This presentation will show you just some

of the contributions that math education

has helped change the world, create new

ideas, or when we are using math in the

real world without even realizing it!

Picture by Temari 09 on Flickr.

Starting right when we

wake up, many of us

have trouble getting

out of bed. Some of us

even keep track of how

many hours or minutes

we can still sleep, and

still get to school or

work on time. That is a

perfect example of

using mental math in

our every day lives!

ALARM CLOCKS

Picture by Toshiyuki IMAI on Flickr.

When shooting a

basketball, we must

figure out the correct arc

used in order to get the

ball into the basket. From

the point when the ball

leaves your hands, to the

time the ball lands either

on the floor or in an

opponent’s hands, we are

able to calculate where

that ball will land and

how long it will take to

get there by using

parabolas or quadratic

functions!

BASKETBALL

Picture by Gus Estrella on Flickr.

Bridges have been used

through out history to

help humans travel over

something that has kept

many civilizations

separated. Bridges are

used over water,

canyons, or any other

dangerous terrain in

order to make travel safe.

By calculating distance,

stabilization and weight

capacity, people have

been able to evolve from

a simple piece of wood as

a bridge, to giant and

beautiful pieces of

architecture.

BRIDGES

Picture by Jim Nix on Flickr.

From measuring ingredients,

keeping track of an inventory,

or telling how long something

needs to be cooked for, math

is used to help us do one of

our favorite past times – EAT!

Measurements like cups or

liters, ounces or pounds,

minutes or seconds, etc. are

all mathematic terms that can

help in making a delicious

meal that everyone can enjoy!

No matter what culture you are

from, food and how things are

cooked is an important part of

our daily lives and culture.

COOKING

Picture by The Pocket on Flickr.

ALL amusement parks

would not be possible

without math! Roller

coasters are the way for

many of us to let our

adrenaline race through

our veins and challenge

our fears of heights and

speed! Without the

properties of physics and

mathematics, amazing

amusements like roller

coasters would not be

possible. How exciting!!

ROLLER COASTERS

Picture by Beyond Neon on Flickr.

“Money makes the world go round.” It also is what drives most of us to work hard. It may not seem that money is a very important thing in our lives, but it is the way that we can purchase things that we need or want. Money gives us status in the society that we live in. It may not make you the person that you are, but there are people that would do a lot for the all mighty dollar! From the house you live in, to the taxes you pay daily money is involved whether you realize it or not.

MONEY

Picture by 401(k) 2012 on Flickr.

Your height, weight, clothing

size and how far you can run

have one thing in common –

they are all given by

measurements! As we get

older, it is nice to be able to

see how much we grow. Math

allows us to use numbers as

symbols to represent sizes, to

give us distances and to make

us realize what is healthy and

unhealthy! We can use it to

help decide what size portions

to eat, figure out how far a mile

really is, or how tall you must

be to ride an amusement ride.

MEASURING

Picture by James Emery on Flickr.

America’s favorite pastime – BASEBALL! Baseball uses more math and statistical information than anyone would think possible. Players are identified as good based on data!! Tracking speeds of a pitches, ERAs (earned run average), batting averages, distances on the field, shapes of the field, and direction and trajectory of throwing a ball. Baseball is truly one giant math problem filled with measuring and statistics!

BASEBALL

Picture by Andy B on Flickr.

Pizza is talked about a lot

in math. We use it to

represent fractions or to

show sizes on a chart.

One of the most amazing

parts of pizza (besides of

how amazing it tastes) is

the fact that it can be

divided up in so many

different ways based on

how many times

someone can cut a circle

in half. We can use area,

bisectors, and ratios to

determine how many

pieces each person can

eat.

PIZZA

Picture by Morton Fox on Flickr.

From the time a person is

born to the time they die,

they go through points in

life where they are in need

of medical attention. The

medical field uses math to

measure medications,

keep track of heart beats

and blood pressure

(ratios), make

conversions, and to

determine a time line for

treatment. Being involved

in the medical field means

that you need to pay extra

attention to the numbers

that you are seeing all the

time! Someone’s life

depends on it!!

HEALTH CARE

Picture by Phalinn Ooi on Flickr.

Maybe this one seems

obvious – but most of our

dressers, desks, tables,

shelves and chairs all

took someone a lot of

time and mathematics to

create. By measuring

angles, to sizes and cuts

of wood, we rely on math

to make sure each cut

and each design is

perfect to give us any

quality products that we

want.

WOOD WORK

Picture by epSos .de on Flickr.

Have you ever thought

about what it would be like

without having an air plane

as an option of

transportation? Without

the correct mathematical

calculations from the

balance of the wings, and

measuring the wind. Also

forecasting what the

weather is like, or to

measure the distance

between locations or from

the plane location to the

ground, we wouldn’t be

able to get to our desired

locations as fast as we

would without aviation

technology!

AIR PLANES

Picture by Bill Damon on Flickr.

Imagine what the world would

be like without getting letters

or packages delivered through

the mail? What about not being

able to tell friends directions to

your house without an

address? Mathematics makes

that possible, through satellite

tracking locations, to

calculating stamp prices and

delivery of these items to your

home. The idea of the postal

service is such an amazing

idea that gets you anything you

need right to your door!

MAIL

Picture by Oran Viriyincy on Flickr.

IN CONCLUSION…

These were just some of the wonderful ways that

we see math in our lives without even realizing it;

from a commercial airline to a famous baseball

player. So next time you think about how

“unimportant” math is – think of all of the

important things in life that we take for granted

every day because people that were able to

develop their ideas using MATH!

Picture by Woodleywonderworks on Flickr.

PHOTO CREDIT

“September 30, 2008” by njhdiver is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

“Learning Time” by Temari 09 is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

“Yuno’s alarm clock ? No, it’s mine” by Toshiyuki IMAI is licensed under CC

BY-SA 2.0

“13-01 Bsktbll - WCS Crusaders vs St Bernard Bernardians – 216” by Gus

Estrella is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

“Great night, awesome bridge” by Jim Nix is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA

2.0

“Cooking” by The Pocket is licensed under CC BY 2.0

“Twisted” by Beyond Neon is licensed under CC BY 2.0

“Money” by 401(K) 2012 is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

“Measuring up_4124” by James Emery is licensed under CC BY 2.0

“Baseball” by buschap is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Although most of the slides were provided with a photo credit – I have chosen to create a slide for the photo credits of all the photos

used.

PHOTO CREDIT

“Pepperoni and garlic pizza” by Morton Fox is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

“Medical/Surgical Operative Photography” by Phalinn Ooi is licensed under

CC BY 2.0

“Big dining table for the rich” by epSos .de is licensed under CC BY 2.0

“Planes at Logan Airport – Constitution Beach – East Boston – 2014-06-01”

by Bill Damon is licensed under CC BY 2.0

“Mailing Junk back to Junk Mailers” by Oran Viriyincy is licensed under CC

BY-SA 2.0

“Math Partners” by woodleywonderworks is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Although most of the slides were provided with a photo credit – I have chosen to create a slide for the photo credits of all the photos

used.