Daily Math

Math finds it's way out of the classroom and into my daily life all the time. Mainly, I use it to determine how much longer I have to do something I don't want to do. In the slowest classes of the day, I find myself saying, "one quarter done, one half done, three quarters done." Working through the longest homework assignments, with problem after problem after problem, I encourage myself but giving myself a fractional representation of how far I've progressed. In cross country, on the difficult hill workouts, I use fractions to determine how many out of 10 I've done. My application for fractions, although somewhat negative, works for me. I can quickly break 5/8 down into a percent by knowing that 100 divided by 8 is about 12, and 5 x 12 is 60. Approximately 60%. When taking a time-pressured test, I use math to determine if I can finish in time, by seeing how much time I have left, converting that into a fraction, then seeing what fraction of the test I have left to do. Running through all of these calculations doesn't take long, and I do it almost subconsciously. Math can be a great help in our daily lives.

Why We're Bad at Math

At the very beginning, we're taught that 1 plus 1 equals 2. Then, it's taken a step further, with 2 plus 2 equals 4. After that comes subtraction, 1 minus 1 equals 0. And much later, multiplication and division. Seems easy, right? Despite this, the United States ranks 32nd in math proficiency. Why?

It's become quite commonplace for adults to say "Oh, I was never good at math," or "Math was always hard for me." Often, teachers (aside from those that teach math) will say "Now you know why I'm not a math teacher." At least for today's generation, this may be the root of the problem. If even our teachers, the people who mentor us in our academic life, don't take math seriously, why should we? Just like our teachers, we figure, "Well I'm just better at this subject." Sometimes, it's even taken as far as, "Well I'm good at this sport, why should I be concerned about school?" While it's great to have one talent, it is important to be well rounded.

Rise over Run

The grade of a slope is exactly what it sounds like-- a slope.


Grade is expressed in the following equation:

% grade = rise/run x 100

A slope with a grade of 9% is one in which 9 feet of altitude is gained for every 100 feet of distance travelled, which is actually steeper than it seems. A handicap ramp, which must rise 1 inch for every foot travelled, has a grade of 8.3%. The steepest road in San Francisco, Filbert Street, has a grade of 31.5%, meaning that when driving on this road, one gains 4 inches in elevation for every foot they travel.

This also means that the road climbs at an 18.4 degree angle, because the negative tangent of 4 over 12 is 18.4. The tangent, a trigonometric function, can tell us the angle based on rise over run, or the rise or run based on the angle and one of the value. The tangent function is opposite over adjacent. To elaborate, this means that the equation must be set up like this:

tan(angle) = (opposite side) / (adjacent side)

Reworded, the equation becomes:

tan(angle) = (rise) / (run)

And that is how the trigonometric function of tangent finds it's way into rise over run, and subsequently, grade.