+170 Kid in Maths class: “When are we ever gonna need this in real life?” Yeah, you may not need to know anything other than basic addition when you cash your welfare check, but the rest of us want to learn this, amirite?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

When a train leaves Chicago travelling at 65 miles per hour and another one leaves Topeka at 35 miles per hour, you won't know when they meet up, and you'll regret not paying attention in math.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

They'll meet in a massive crash. Duh. You don't need math to figure that out

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Regarding the above statement. If you were from anywhere using kilometres, you'd also need to know the conversion rate from miles to kilometres (around 0.625 miles to 1 kilometre), and also know where Chicago and Topeka are. Alternatively, you could just ask one of the staff. But really, why would you need to know anyway?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

That's fucking mean, man.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

"You're going to need it on your next math test, that's real life." That's what my teacher says

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I get the point of this post; but unless you are becoming some kind of engineer, are you really going to need to know how to do trigonometry and conics section in everyday life? The way I know if something is probably going to be useful is by asking a handful of the generation before you(e.g. parents, teachers(not math), etc) and if they're like: I haven't done this since highschool, then you know it's not gonna be that everyday useful...

by Anonymous 12 years ago

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/senior_year

by Anonymous 12 years ago

As much as math frustrates me but i love it..and math will follow you through college so if you don't learn it now you will mess yourself up for the future...

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Math is not all that important. I mean, it's not like I'm sitting in a class and someone comes running up to me screaming some equation i have to solve, or else. You don't need to be scientific to succeed in life.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I doubt i'll ever need Calculus. Algebra, sure.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

When I ask my teacher when I'll need to use a concept in the real world, he says that I will need to know it so that when I become a math teacher I will be able to teach it to other kids so that they can become math teachers.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

My teacher says you need to know it to finish high school to go to college to get a job.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Yeah, for some jobs you might need to know a lot of mathematical shit, but I don't understand why some teachers don't let their students use calculators. I mean, if you have a job that requires a lot of math, why wouldn't you have access to a calculator?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

In my math class, there was an entire section of the book that the teacher said wouldn't help us in any way...

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I get how math will help you but please help me to understand how 2^7y times 45squareroot17 divided by 8pi times 3 = 973y will help with an every day job? I personally hate math because I've been told by a lot of people all they use are division, multiplication, addition, subtraction and percents. Maybe you will need more for yourself but in what common job will you need more? You may be planning on being something where you will but most people won't.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I know it was just an example, but to understand "how 2^7y times 45squareroot17 divided by 8pi times 3 = 973y" you really only need to use division and multiplication, which you included in the list of things that a lot of people say use (Well there's also the square root but that's barely a step away from multiplication). If that example was actually right, then it would be easy anyways.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

They only teach you the boring, useless aspects of math, anyways. I go to Vihart and Numberphile when I actually want to learn useful, interesting things.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

LONG DIVISION. wait, i used that in math class... once

by Anonymous 12 years ago

How is that even possible? I use long division almost everyday, not counting during math class.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

i can do most simple division in my head, but when i cant there is a calculator around

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Ah. But you're still using long division, even if you aren't doing it manually or mentally.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

nope, i just use multiplication actually. i guess an answer then see how close it was, then depending on how far away i am to the number i need i add decimals as needed.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

That actually sounds more complicated than simply doing the long division in your head, but whatever works! But why would you do all that if you had a calculator? You just said you usually do the more difficult long-division questions on a calculator. (Thus using long division, even if you're not working it out on your own)

by Anonymous 12 years ago

the smaller questions take longer on a calculator :P i dont have long division questions really, just occasionally i need to use a calculator when dividing something by log6, which is pretty hard without a calc.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I meant the longer long division problems. I understand why you would do that for the smaller ones. But yeah, I usually need my calculator for Log functions (or, at least, the more complicated ones), but then again, how often do I need to use Log functions in real life? Not as often as long division, that's for sure.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

fair point, math is excessive. long division is definitly more useful than logs

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Fuck you OP, I'm never going to need to use geometry proofs in real life.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

yeah seriously fuck you. were forced to take those two years of math so we can say that if we want. maybe youre taking easy ass consumer math but when the fuck am i gonna need to know how to take a simple random sample, or what the lengths of this isoseles triangle are. i could be a fucking lawyer or doctor without knowing any of that crap

by Anonymous 12 years ago

You think people who don't use math in their careers need welfare checks? As in they don't contribute to society? Fuck you. Next time you think about reading a book, having your car worked on, or sending your kids to school, instead you can just masturbate over how much more important you are than everyone else for being good at math.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I think people misunderstand that the real point of a math class is to work out certain areas of your brain.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I'm going to major in music ed and English. I need to know how to count to make sure there are enough beats in a measure and... there's no math in English.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Yeah... I fly my Grandpa's plane all the time. And don't use trig like my teacher said I would. "If you ever want to become a pilot you need to know your altitude, the distance from blahblahblahbla...." No. You have gauges and gps systems for that. This isn't fifty years ago. This is 2012.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Here's something I'll never use: slant asymptotes.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Freak you, OP. Freak you in the bottom!

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Math stops being useful after about geometry.

by Anonymous 12 years ago