madlori:

I bet you did.

Did you estimate what mpg your car is getting? Did you figure out how many hamburgers you could get for six bucks? Did you think about how long it would take you to get somewhere given the speed and distance? Did you plan a meal so all the components would be done at the same time? Did you encounter anything on sale? Did you figure out how many groceries you could get for how much money you had?

There are about a million other daily, unconscious tasks that use algebra or at least algebraic thinking. Just because you weren’t writing out an equation or employing variables doesn’t mean you weren’t using the skills that algebra and other math courses taught you.

Science and math aren’t important because you’re going to need to know the exact steps of photosynthesis or the quadratic formula. They’re important because they teach you scientific and mathematical literacy and rational thinking, and that is sorely needed in a world where charlatans and cheats or people with a political or religious agenda can get away with all manner of pseudoscience and bullshit because people don’t have enough scientific literacy or critical thinking skills to accurately weigh the arguments or even discern where they fail logically.

So study math and science, and art, and literature, and history, and politics, not because you’re going to need it or it’s going to do something specific for you, but because an uninformed populace is bad for the world.