How many times have you heard a young student ask if they’ll ever use the math skills they’re learning when they grow up?

A letter from a police officer responding to a Bellevue Lewis and Clark Middle School student answered the common question.

The Bellevue Police Department shared a picture of the letter from math teacher Gina Stukenholtz.

“Thanks to Capt. Wood and @BellevuePolice for participating in our letter project & making math real for kids. #bpsne,” Stukenholtz wrote in her Twitter post.

The letter reads:

"Dear Tanner, You sent me a letter earlier this month asking if I use math every day in my job as Captain with the Bellevue Police Department, and I do. In fact, I couldn’t do my job without it. I use math to maintain the Investigations Division budget, analyze crime statistics so that resources are used in the most efficient manner, monitor the productivity of my detectives, and for many other tasks. The math that I use ranges from simple addition and subtraction to the use of complex formulas such as the one below [see picture] which is used to determine the speed of a vehicle from skid marks left at the scene of a traffic accident. Study hard because your teacher was correct – math is used in everything.”

In their Facebook post, Bellevue Police Department added:

“Math is definitely an important subject, whether solving an accident or calculating the savings on a new pair of sneakers,” they wrote. “We are proud to have such amazing teachers in our community. Thank you for selflessly educating the next generation.”

Teachers everywhere can use Cpt. Wood’s letter whenever they’re asked the same question.