Reply #127: I think my gripe was that...

[sofa king]

...in at least one of those threads, the poster was doing a damned good job of describing all the mathematics we have to do every day, whether we acknowledge it or not.

As I said in that one, knowing how much money you have left to spend out of the $20 you have at the store is solving for x, an algebraic problem. Those of you who are skipping straight to the addition and subtraction simply aren't giving yourselves enough credit for thinking algebraically.

And that sort of calculation is just the tip of the iceberg of the math we perform with near-perfection every day. Most of you drive or ride a bike or type or instantly convert code like this print into actionable thought. All of those things require calculations so vast and numerous that the computers we live with simply can't be asked to even try it... just yet. All of those things can be described in physics, using mathematics, even if I don't personally know the math behind it.

Maybe we don't all need to know it, in fact I'm sure you're right about that. But we all need to know about it.

The most important thing that underpins mathematics is rational thought. That's something Americans need to be practicing as much as possible, because frankly I think we suck at it.