I just encountered Math with Bad Drawings.
This post has an interesting complete-the-sentence:
Mathematics is useless for...
Hmmm. I can come up with some vague ideas. Let's see what others had:
…writing epic poetry.
Actually, no. While the final product is unlikely to contain explicit math, if you're trying to write convincingly about the movements of large numbers of Greek warriors, ships, horses, and so on... yer gonna need to use some math behind the scenes.
…saving you from a tragic blimp crash.
Failure to apply math correctly, on the part of the engineer or the pilot, greatly increases the likelihood that the blimp will crash.
…dancing.
Math is very useful indeed in choreography. And, of course, there's a lot of math behind music.
…making friends.
In a school setting? Really?
…creativity, because maths is very logical.
Many creative endeavors are facilitated by math. Really. If nothing else, math and physics can offer useful tools for differentiating among the possible, the plausible, the plausible-sounding, and the absurd. And, should you wish to implement one of your wild creative ideas? You'll likely be needing math.
…artists.
Srsly? Ever study art history? Many of the great painters, musicians, and such used math extensively, and carefully studied its application to art.
I've been known to use math in ways that are obvious only in retrospect. Sewing, for example: I don't buy patterns for sewing projects (partly because I'm unclear on the concept of how buying patterns works, exactly). I just get a handle on what I want to create, what the pieces need to be... and then start doing the trigonometry and whatnot. That being done, I calculate (in rough terms) the amount of cloth needed, and head for the store.
I never grokked advanced math, but the high-school-level stuff is in fact quite useful in everyday life... and once in a while I even need to dust off the undergrad-level math to deal with slightly arcane matters. I should probably, one of these years, put in some study time to get back up to speed on the more advanced material, 'cause there have been quite a few projects I haven't taken on over the years owing to the math required being beyond me.
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