The Mathematics Department offers courses from the technical level to
the Advanced Placement level. Students gain skills in real world application as well as
higher level mathematics to prepare them for further study at the
collegiate level. We expect students to design and solve problems through numerical,
graphical and algebraic methods.
Department Directory
Math
updated 10/19/2020
12 Reasons Why You Should Study Math
Below you will find a list of reasons excerpted from an excellent article on why study math at a Norwegian site, Ubiquity.
Choose math because it makes you smarter.
Math is to learning what endurance and strength training is to
sports: the basis that enables you to excel in the specialty of your
choice. You cannot become a major sports star without being strong and
having good cardiovascular ability. You cannot become a star within your
job or excel in your profession unless you can think smart and
critically -- and math will help you do that.
Choose math because you will make more money.
Winners of American Idol and other "celebrities" may make money, but
only a tiny number of people have enough celebrity to make money, and
most of them get stale after a few years. Then it is back to school, or
to less rewarding careers ("Would you like fries with that?"). If you
skip auditions and the sports channels and instead do your homework --
especially math -- you can go on to get an education that will get you a
well-paid job. Much more than what pop singers and sports stars make --
perhaps not right away, but certainly if you look at averages and
calculate it over a lifetime.
Choose math because you will lose less money.
When hordes of idiots throw their money at pyramid schemes, it is
partially because they don't know enough math. Specifically, if you know
a little bit about statistics and interest calculations, you can look
through economic lies and wishful thinking. With some knowledge of hard
sciences you will probably feel better, too, because you will avoid
spending your money and your hopes on alternative medicine, crystals,
magnets and other swindles -- simply because you know they don't work.
Choose math to get an easier time at college and university.
Yes, it is hard work to learn math properly while in high school. But
when it is time for college or university, you can skip reading pages
and pages of boring, over-explaining college texts. Instead, you can
look at a chart or a formula, and understand how things relate to each
other. Math is a language, shorter and more effective than other
languages. If you know math, you can work smarter, not harder.
Choose math because you will live in a global world.
In a global world, you will compete for the interesting jobs against
people from the whole world -- and the smart kids in Eastern Europe,
India and China regard math and other "hard" sciences as a ticket out of
poverty and social degradation. Why not do as they do -- get knowledge
that makes you viable all over the world, not just in your home country?
Choose math because you will live in a world of constant change.
New technology and new ways of doing things change daily life and
work more and more. If you have learned math, you can learn how and why
things work, and avoid scraping by through your career, supported by
Post-It Notes and Help files -- scared to death of accidentally pressing
the wrong key and running into something unfamiliar.
Choose math because it doesn't close any doors.
If you don't choose math in high school, you close the door to
interesting studies and careers. You might not think those options
interesting now, but what if you change your mind? Besides, math is most
easily learned as a young person, whereas social sciences, history, art
and philosophy benefit from a little maturing -- and some math.
Choose math because it is interesting in itself.
Too many people - including teachers - will tell you that math is
hard and boring. But what do they know? You don't ask your grandmother
what kind of game-playing machine you should get, and you don't ask your
parents for help in sending a text message. Why ask a teacher -- who
perhaps got a C in basic math and still made it through to his or her
teaching certificate -- whether math is hard? If you do the work and
stick it out, you will find that math is fun, exciting, and
intellectually elegant.
Choose math because you will meet it more and more in the future.
Math becomes more and more important in all areas of work and
scholarship. Future journalists and politicians will talk less and
analyze more. Future police officers and military personnel will use
more and more complicated technology. Future nurses and teachers will
have to relate to numbers and technology every day. Future car mechanics
and carpenters will use chip-optimization and stress analysis as much
as monkey wrenches and hammers. There will be more math at work, so you
will need more math at school.
Choose math so you can get through, not just into college.
If you cherry-pick the easy stuff in high school, you might come
through with a certificate that makes you eligible for a college
education. Having a piece of paper is nice, but don't for a second think
this makes you ready for college. You will notice this as soon as you
enter college and have to take remedial math programs, with ensuing
stress and difficulty, just to have any kind of idea what the professor
is talking about.
Choose math because it is creative.*
Many think math only has to do with logical deduction and somehow is
in opposition to creativity. The truth is that math can be a supremely
creative force if only the knowledge is used right, not least as a tool
for problem solving during your career. A good knowledge of math in
combination with other knowledge makes you more creative than others.
Choose math because it is cool.
You have permission to be smart, you have permission to do what your
peers do not. Choose math so you don't have to, for the rest of your
life, talk about how math is "hard" or "cold". Choose math so you don't
have to joke away your inability to do simple calculations or lack of
understanding of what you are doing. Besides, math will get you a job in
the cool companies, those that need brains.
You don't have to become a mathematician (or an engineer) because you
choose math in high school. But it helps to chose math if you want to
be smart, think critically, understand how and why things relate to each
other, and to argue effectively and convincingly.
Math is a sharp knife for cutting through thorny problems. If you want a sharp knife in your mental tool chest - choose math!
*This point was added by Jon Holtan, a mathematician who works with the insurance company If.
Source: Ubiquity Volume 7, Issue 11 (March 21, - March 27, 2006)www.acm.org/ubiquity