Why Algebra? :: essays research papers

Why Do We Teach Algebra?     Until late(a) history, mathematics had not been taught to the general population. Only those who were rich, powerful, and/or politically attached were given the opportunity to study math beyond basic enumerate operations. Many of my junior high students atomic do 18 excited about the prospects of reversive to this situation. I have the opportunity to teach remedial math and math study skills courses for a local university. Many of the college students with whom I am snarly are going back to school after many days in the graze force. Most of them experience a high power point of math trouble because they have forgotten much of the algebra they influenceed in school. Theyve forgotten it because they dont use algebra in their daily lives. In fact, many college students are quite successful in their various programs of study and yet fight to pass their general algebra requirements. And almost everyone breaks into a cold sweat at the mere mention of the words "story worrys". Given the high anxiety level associated with the subject and the fact that so much of what we learn in algebra is not used by the general population, why is it so primary(prenominal) that we teach it? Be honest When was the last time you needed to ingredient a polynomial or to find the asymptotes in a reasoning(prenominal) expression. Unless you must use these ideas in your work, your answer is probably "huh?"     Dont get me wrong, I think there are compelling reasons to teach algebra to the general population. The basic reason, of course, is utility. We use much of the algebra weve learned every day. For example, the ordering properties of our real number system are the basis for almost all of our comparisons--deciding which cereal is cheaper, alphabetizing lists, and so on etc, etc. Negative numbers are useful in balancing our checkbooks--bummer Of course, we add, subtract, multiply, and d issociate practically every day. I could go on and on. Most of the trouble solving we do has a mathematical basis. Even "he loves me, he loves me not" is a simple mathematical progression--i.e.1, -1, 1, -1,...     Another reason we should learn algebra is to enhance our pattern recognition skills. Pattern recognition is an important paradox solving skill. If I can make a problem train a similar previously solved pattern, then the current problem is solved. This is a powerful tool. So powerful, in fact, that a mathematicians work is more involved with determining whether a solution exists than actually conclusion the solution.