Today, I appreciate math—but that wasn’t always the case.
It once seemed like a pointless chore. And, after even a quick glance around, it’s clear that aversion—or at least indifference—is the prevailing attitude toward mathematics.
But math isn’t something to avoid. It’s a tool for everyday life and a form of mental weight training.
In any math class, the infamous “When will we need to know this?” question always seems to come up. Yet, the teacher’s response rarely gets the same attention.
“You might not [use math], and that’s OK,” said math instructor Lauren Bedard. “But it’s still going to teach you valuable things while you do it.”
Think of football training. A player might squat 500 pounds regularly, not because he’ll need to squat that exact weight during a game—but to build strength to power through the defensive line.
“It’s kind of like that for math,” Bedard said, “Maybe you’re not going to use the quadratic formula in your day-to-day life, but it lets you learn how to think and problem solve.”
Even if you don’t use specific math concepts daily, the mental habits you build—like breaking large problems into smaller parts—will stick with you.
Math isn’t just like weight training, though. It also shows up in unexpected and practical ways.
Senior Hayden Abeysekera found this out when he considered upgrading his car’s tires.
“I didn’t expect to use that much math—gear ratios and acceleration curves—just to answer a car mod question,” Hayden said.
He didn’t have to do the math before buying the tires. But, by doing so, he realized he could save money if the performance gains were minimal.
Math’s practical uses don’t stop at cars or physics. They show up in the kitchen, too. Fractions and proportions can mean the difference between a perfect dish and a culinary flop.
Ask any home cook—algebra appears when adjusting recipes, doubling ingredients, converting units or scaling portions based on how many people you’re serving. Figuring out how much a half-batch of cookies will yield is a real-world math problem in disguise.
These everyday calculations prove that math isn’t just academic—it’s a flexible tool that helps us make smarter decisions, whether behind the wheel, at the stove or stepping up to home plate.
“Math didn’t come easily to me in high school either,” Bedard said. “But then I spent more time with it, now it clicks and makes sense, and it’s cool and fun.”
Math, she explained, is more than numbers—it’s a way of thinking that builds resilience, logic, and confidence.It’s also a powerful lens for interpreting information.
“If you’re reading a paper or article and there are graphs, percentages, or stats, data analysis gives you the tools to ask: Am I being misled by this information? Are they steering me toward a specific conclusion?” Bedard said.
In a world flooded with data, headlines and political spin, this kind of mathematical thinking is essential. Whether it’s a news article, a political ad, or a trending statistic on social media, a math-literate person can spot bias and ask better questions.
“When you’re getting pitched things, it’s important to think: What’s the actual math behind this?” Bedard said.
Hayden agrees.
It’s OK to dislike finding the roots of a function or calculating the vertex of a parabola. You don’t need to love integrals. But if you care about growing intellectually, and if you stick with math, it will make you stronger—in more ways than one.
“It made me realize that math isn’t just something you do for a grade—it actually helps answer real questions I care about,” he said. “When you’re using it to figure out which car pulls harder after 60 mph, [math] hits different.”
