Numbers, numbers everywhere

A lot of people complain on how unimportant numbers, and algebra and calculus are, and that they won't need them when they land a job that doesn't deal with numbers (unless of course if you're a rocket scientist, but that's a different story). What they don't realize is that this method of discipline specifically sharpens a person's critical thinking process.

When you were asked about the sum, difference, product or quotient of an equation, what it was trying to do is to have you find out the results of a process. If you have resource A on one hand and resource B on the other, what can you accomplish? Will you add, subtract, multiply or divide your manpower and resources to get better results? These are but simple thinking processes that we tactfully  do everyday. And we couldn't have done them better without learning the basics of math.

When you were asked to find "x," were you really trying to find x or were you looking for the missing piece of the puzzle? What are needed in order to accomplish your goal? How could you accomplish it, and what are the steps needed to solve that problem?

Then there's the dreaded integral and differential calculus. Let's step back a little bit and take a look at the big picture. We have are countless formulas, theorems and principles. In short, these are your guides. But do we necessarily need to memorize them throughout the day? No. We just need to familiarize them, by heart. These guides point to the same direction, the tried and tested pathway made by men and women who had walked ahead of you and shared their ideas for the next generation. 

Lastly you will be asked to check your equation and proofread your work. It doesn't really matter if you made mistakes along the way because at the end of the day what's important is how you've sharpened your thinking process.

The class is the testing ground, and there's no better way "to sweat more in training than to bleed in battle" than pouring in out on test papers, quizzes and exams. So what was the most difficult equation you've encountered so far? Mine was dy/dx.