I adore maths. I love the intricacies, how each concept builds you up to one more complicated, and just the pure satisfaction when you get a whole number solution to an eight-mark question. But alas, much to my sorrow, not everyone feels the same way.
Maths is demonised in popular culture because people dislike it or find it terribly difficult. It sometimes seems that teachers make some random equation up for the sake of it. Yet the other critique people often pin on maths is that it is useless or unhelpful when it comes to real life. This is simply untrue.
So, in defence of differentiation, or let’s just say maths in general:
There is a double standard when it comes to the utility of maths. One frequently hears “I’ve been an adult for five years and I haven’t used the quadratic formula once,” yet you don’t hear the same flack for other subjects: “I haven’t had to sketch a pear,” “I haven’t had to explain osmosis,” “I haven’t had to argue the importance of the Mosaic covenant,” … the list goes on. I think this entirely misses the point of pre-A Level education. It is to give you breadth and enrich you as a person, to lead you into adulthood with a wide skill set and adaptability.
But, why is maths singled out by so many? Of course, I’m coming from a stance of a liker of maths; even so, I’ve had my fair share of self-righteous fits: “why do the maths gods conspire against me and create a concept so impossible to understand?” I guess it’s the binary nature of maths. The it’s either right or wrong concept that makes you love it or hate it. With more essay-based subjects, unless you’re saying something totally absurd, if you justify it enough it practically becomes the truth. As a six-year-old I found this totally infuriating but as I’ve grown up, I’ve begrudgingly made my peace with English.
Now the time has come for real life application. Those three words hold the key to persuade any student that something is worthwhile, I hope, or this next bit will be rather a waste of my time and yours.
Basic numeracy is a pretty helpful skill to possess. Whether it’s adding up how many coffees you can buy before your bank account is uninhabited or calculating the maximum time you can spend procrastinating until you actually have to start your work, It’s these subconscious little thoughts your brain that everyone just forgets about.
How about economics? I’ve mentioned empty bank accounts, but there’s much more to it. It’s a social science – it’s also maths. Maths is used as a proof in economic analysis where words would fail otherwise. That’s the beauty of it: it is concrete and systematic. For example, for the function y = f(x), the value of y is dependent on the independent variable value of x. This concept is mimicked in economics with the variable of demand, which is a function of price, whilst all other values are kept constant. However, this isn’t really the case as the effect is also dependent on say: the advertising, the taste, preference and the price of other similar products. That gets a little more complicated. But you really want to understand? I’ve got you interested in maths already!
That was an obvious one. What about a ‘non-mathematical job’? Comedy. Comics are great mathematicians. This is showcased in the hugely successful Simpsons franchise. Most of the writers have degrees in maths and embed it as jokes into almost every episode. The resilience required to constantly devise gag after gag is only matched with the tenacity of trying to prove a theorem. The feeling there may never be an ending or a final solution in sight. Yet they can use logic and patterns of behaviour to come close to the perfect joke. Maths instils an adaptability that you find nowhere else. Well I would say that wouldn’t I?
In being true to the title, I must discuss the greatest casualty in the people versus maths battle – differentiation. People absolutely abhor it. Unfortunately, you can’t just pretend that it doesn’t exist; calculus makes the world go round. No, quite literally: if it moves calculus applies. Don’t like it? Too bad, your house has already collapsed! Obviously, that would never actually happen as there are too many engineers around who adore calculus and are more than willing to make up for some people’s severe uninterest. Yet it does appear to me that the world would have a gaping hole if everyone started to take the same intolerant stance on maths.
Maths is a victim just as much as you are a victim of it. Berating and attempting to rebuke is utility doesn’t solve anything. You must just reconcile your differences like I did with English almost a decade ago.
