When young people ask me why they should learn math, I point out that managing your money requires math, and there are plenty of people who will steal from you if you are unable to recognize it.

An inability to understand compound interest is classic.

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marcus_holmes an hour ago | parent [-]

But that's basic arithmetic, and we have calculators to do that. Totally agree that understanding the problem and being able to frame a solution are also needed, but again, that's not hard maths.

I think we're more talking about algebra or, really, anything "higher" in maths than arithmetic. Does a solid knowledge of, e,g, Set Theory, give any benefit later in life?

And also, if we think that basic financial management is a good thing for kids to learn, why don't we teach that?

	▲	freeopinion 42 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		No, we don't have calculators to do that. AI, maybe. But a calculator cannot form an equation out of a social context and solve the equation. If you bought 6 liters of soda for £3/2-liter bottle with 8% consumption tax, how much should it cost? You have to shape that all into a series of operations for your calculator. The calculator can't do it by itself. Even basic arithmetic takes some education before the calculator can be useful.
	▲	WalterBright 37 minutes ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		A calculator won't help at all if you don't have a grasp on what compound interest is. I've seen many laments on X from graduates who could not understand why they've paid more money to their student loan lender than the amount of the loan, and still have a balance that was more than the loan amount. These are college graduates. > Does a solid knowledge of, e,g, Set Theory, give any benefit later in life? Knowledge of statistics will help a person a lot. Another example. I wanted to put an elliptical brick patio in my yard. The contractor gave a square footage and I signed a deal with the charge per square foot. He staked it out. It looked a bit peculiar to me. So I measured the major and minor axes and computed the area of the ellipse. It was 1/3 smaller than the contracted amount. The pallet of bricks was sitting in the driveway. I multiplied xyz to get the square footage of the bricks, and walla, it matched the area staked out. I.e. I was being cheated. The contractor evidently was used to math challenged customers, and discovered how much he could cheat before being noticed. I pointed out the "error" (hahahaha) and the contractor reduced the bill by a third. > why don't we teach that? Exactly!