How I use math in everday life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

How I use math in everday life - Essay Example Soon I realized that one needs to have his or her math in order if one has to be a successful performer in the life. In one of the session when I was 13, my grandpa asked me a simple question, â€Å"What would you prefer – working for 30 days to get paid 5 million dollars at the end or 1 cent the first day and then doubling the amount each day such as 1, 2, 4, 8, 16†¦. up to 30 days period†. My obvious answer was 5 million dollars at the end of 30 days. He laughed at me and told me that I need to have some lessons from a Jew (with full regards to Jews of course!). I could not understand how I could go wrong on such a simple query. He made me sit and asked me to do the exercise manually. Though tedious and torturous the calculation was it surprised me when I finished my calculation that revealed me that I would have garnered as much as 536,870,911 cents or $5,368,709. Much more than 5 million dollars and certainly much more rewarding indeed! My succinct reply to him was â€Å"But how can one finish such lengthy and time consuming calculations?† He replied â€Å"Babe it is easy to calculate and simple if you know the math†. That is how I got attracted to math in early stages. It was later in high school that I came across summation of geometric series given in a mathematical formula in the form of a Ãâ€" (1-r n) / (1-r) that my grandpa introduced me when I was 13. ... I was quick enough to calculate my savings in cents as (60 ? 30)/100 = 18 cents. That means the effective cost of each Choco bar would be only (60-18) =42 cents. My limited spending power of $5 on this item per week would buy me nearly (500/42) = 12 Choco bars and that were good enough for me to last more than a week. One of the most useful concepts in the math is percentage that helps me in my daily purchases. It is a good way of comparison that makes decision easier and quicker. Math in Kitchen When I was 16, I came across Fairy Cake recipe published in one of the reputed magazine. I decided to make the cake myself. The recipe was designed for 15 people and ingredients were 156 gram butter, 156 gram self-raising flour and 156 gram caster sugar, 2.5 tablespoons of milk, and 2.5 large eggs. No standard packing in the above measurements (156 gram packing) is available. Nearest available smaller packing is 100 gram. I decided to use 100 grams packing of sugar, butter, and flour. I need ed to adjust milk and eggs in the same ratio. Math helped me there. I calculated milk quantity as (100/156) ? 2.5 = 1.60 tablespoons of milk and 1.6 of large eggs. Obviously, my prepared cake was sufficient to serve (100/156) ? 15 = 10 people. Math helped me a lot in my experiments of preparing some of the delicious dishes in those days and now. Math in My Profession My flair with math helped me in my nursing career too. Often, I do not have the correct dose on hand as prescribed by the doctor; therefore, I have to calculate the dose that I need to give based on what I have on hand. Other day, I was working on the 3 to 11 shift when a heart patient complained of chest pain. I assessed the patient