Why Math is Important 

As an English teacher, I get the, "When will I need this" question a lot. And it's just like you're saying: in a sense they won't. They won't need to chart out plot or solidify their ideas for the theme of a work, but just like you're saying for math, these skills will enhance their lives. The world becomes a richer environment for us to live in when we know how it is put together and how it works. Great video. Thanks for getting people to think. I love it.

My teenage daughter asked me the same question many months ago and, despite my background in science, I was stumped! Of course, I knew that you need it for science if you wanna go that direction, but what if you don't? This video really nails it: It helps you getting into the habit of thinking in a systematic way! And then to think I have been saying the same thing about studying at university for years!

If someone asks you "when are you ever going to use this?" Proudly say: "Never! But... I am soooo damn great at it!"

Math would be amazing if they werent taught that way. If they were taught as part of actual physical examples. I am a mechanical engineer, I use math every day at work, but i always hated them with a passion.

Great vid!! I loved the intro bit with the chalkboard and the take-away message :-) Also, the faint spotlight you added to the background has added a lot of depth to the shot. Huge improvement!

So I definitely used to be one of those "when am I ever going to use maths" people. Fast-forward a few years and I'm reading papers based on set theory and working my own piece that looks at a messy mix of maths and stats towards a general theory of Congressional roll-call votes. I'm never going to be a full-blown mathematician or statistician but, by learning the logic underlying those fields, I'm a much better social scientist, educator, and consumer of information. And, also, math and physics is also just pretty dang cool-- as many of your videos easily points out. This collaboration was a lot of fun! I'm really enjoying going through and checking out everyone's videos!

I love this video and the case you present. I completely agree. When I hear the same question, I also like to point out that a HUGE amount of the things we learn in school are not going to be directly required on the job or "on the streets." For example, right from kindergarten we learn things like how to color in the lines, how to play a xylophone, and how to string beads on yarn. I've never had a job that required any of these things, nor has someone "walked up to me on the street" (as students like to put this scenario) and demanded I demonstrate one of these things. Yet these lessons are excellent ways to develop skills as a child and become a more capable and practiced full human being.

Math as mental exercise is a great motivator. Use it or lose it!

Fantastic practical explanation! Math is a fully immersive and reflective discipline that is unmatched, and can be applied to anything. I find myself wanting to circle back to things I didn't understand so that I can develop more as a thinker.

Some math is oké, but I still don't know why I had to learn so much about integrals, differentials, and last but not least about 30 rules concerning the use of sinus, cosinus and tanges. On the other hand, some statistical arithmatic made me a lot wiser.

I taught for years math quite successfully. And have a degree in physics. I highly disagree. The logic of math should be taught, not the endless useless drills and exercises. It can very much be done, but schools would have to completely change their curriculum

This is now my favorite video of yours. True noble work you are doing with your channel! Much love

So nice to be able to enjoy a a math/science documentary without being distracted by unnecessary, annoying background music - therefore I will subscribe. Thank you for your informative, enjoyable lecture Jade - please keep it up.

This is one of those rare videos I'm going to show my kids when they are just old enough for the message to sink in. Thank you for your awesome videos!

Math can be very useful in programming, at least some kinds -- game programming is especially math heavy. I use a lot of math to mod Minecraft (especially algebra, geometry, set theory, and graph theory), and even have used even more when tinkering with making my game or engine (then the calculus and linear algebra come into play) -- not to mention that algorithms fundamentally are math and designing them is also what makes programming fun.

Great video, again 😄 The problem with maths is that it takes a lot to become fluent enough to use it as a « natural tool », without even thinking, but when you can do it, it is very powerful, allowing you to easily recognize trends and patterns and even more, to formalize them like : « uh, this behaves like an exponential » and to think further (what can possibly be the reason for this particular behavior).

Well said. I have found myself using things I didnt even realize I had learned in school. Its a shame we have lost so much curiosity, as a group. Life is so much richer when you keep asking questions.

The soccer analogy is perfect. Great video, as always!

Just came across you channel as a random YT recommendation .. watched one and now I'm hooked and subbed!! Your content is brilliant. Keep up the great work.

I will definitely do that, right away as I am heading off to teach a physics class. Thank you so much for your inspiring films!

This needs to be told every kid in primary school and high school. I wasn't the best at math and didn't appreciate it, only as I got older I understood why its important.

Alright. You changed my mind. :D

Love this! Great example of how we use what we learn, even when we think we never will... :)

the animation at 4:17 had me laughing so hard hahaha. great video

Brain development and staying sharp is big with me. Although I love physics, the math involved sometimes gets difficult to weather I get through the hard mathematics by doing a couple of things: 1. Simply thinking to myself I'm improving my overall brain cognition. 2. Knowing that in order to be "find things out deeply" since I'm insatiably curious, I have to understand the mathematics behind physical phenomena (I aspire to be a PHd physicist). I think the key for educators is to teach people to think of their personal drivers, in other words their "why," to find the significance of mathematics and science in general. If they're into sports, appeal to that as you've done here. If they're into fashion, appeal to that. Mathematics is everywhere and we should always strive to understand the things that makes us ask questions. Loved your video!

Honestly calc 2 and diff eq were my favorite classes and Ik those aren’t super high level math classes but it was just very interesting to learn all those processes for solving

Really great video! I loved the soccer analogy and the airplane story

I’m studying history and oriental studies and I’ve never came across situation, where I thought I absolutely needed maths but I understand your points. Great video btw 👍

You are really great at explaining things beautifully

I have never understood maths above simple calculation. I was "bottom of the class" in maths for years, and since I left school (to become a journalist) I have avoided maths as much as possible. I don't think I've missed anything, it's never been "important" to me. I've certainly never needed it (apart from some very simple calculation from time to time). There are other ways of exercising and using the mind.

You are so expresive explaining these concepts, great content as always.

Thanks for the book recommendation. Great read!

I wish math had been taught this way when I went to college. Engineering school would have been much more pleasant, my professors made it about as enjoyable as a root canal. I actually enjoy math and use it daily in my work as an electrical engineer. Thank you for the wonderful videos. By the way I had the same look in class as the one in your video. Keep up the awesome work!

Thanks you, Jade. I'm a private pilot and former EAA member who used to fly experimental (amateur-built) aircraft. And had an interest in statistics. One of the statistical stories I read about involved the question of where to add armor for carrier-based fighters. They were being shot up in the engine compartment and the fuel tanks but some were still making it back for landing--or sometimes ditching near the carrier and being rescued. But not a single plane had been shot in the empenage (tail cone) where the elevator cable pulley was located. If you lose your elevator the nose pitches down and you crash into the sea. So that's one of the places where they added armor. It was practical because the empennage is so small it involved little weight penalty. I once saw a British aerobatic pilot (Manx Kelly, sponsored by Players--as in "Players Please") lose his elevator while performing a Cuban Eight in Corona CA (early 1970's). He did not survive.

Thank you! So helpful! Great video! ❤️👏🏻

Subscribed! Great vid and examples :D

Love the new background! Also this chapter reminds me of a chapter in "Thinking, Fast and Slow" about regression to the mean. If you haven't read it I highly suggest it :) Also, great video!!

Wow! You have changed my mind , thanks ma'am for this clarification video 😄

I wish I had you for a math teacher! My math teachers who used "practical examples" held my attention better than teachers who would drone on about theory.

Hey,, that's the same analogy I use in my high school math classes I teach (except I say push-ups and running laps around the soccer field instead of weight- training and cones). Anyway, great video. I am going to show it to my classes tomorrow.

Came here from Joe Scott. Math was my minor subject at university. And apart from giving me the opportunity to meet my (then future) wife, I think having an understanding about math helps me in my daily life by letting my take up and evaluate anything that has to do with numbers really quickly and without having to put hard mental work into it. Which is quite useful if you read stuff like news articles with some numbers they took from who knows where and use to make you feel a certain way. Or if you read so called statistics done by anti-vaxxers on their websites...

The ultimate question my students asked me all the time. Now I know how to answer it. Thank you :)

Well, it depends. Most of the time math is taught as a collection of nonsensensical rules and formulas. That doesn't develop your thinking at all. So I disagree.

Awesome vid. I’ve been trying to reason why math has been satisfying lately and now I understand why lol

This is so necessary in this day and age, where irrational thinking is sending the world nuts. Well presented and good video.

Thanks for the story and referencing "The Power of Mathematical Thinking". I know where to read next in my math journey :) .

Been wanting to read that book for a while! Gotta finish Twenty Thousand Leagues first. Great video; outside of the many practical applications of math, it is quite simply good mental exercise. And a strong knowledge of basic probability does one well in a heated game of Mario Party.

The Problem is not about Math it's about the way they teach math, Great video thanks

Phew, so glad you referenced 'How Not to Be Wrong, by Jordan Ellenberg. I've read it and was watching thinking 'hope she credits the Ellenberg book, because this is mostly from that book". And you did. Great book, I highly recommend it.

The explanation was on point. Thank you!

I have shared this video to many of my friends that even they could understand why we learn mathematics problem and where we gonna use them ! Very unique video ! Best wishes for ur new videos 💐💐💐💐💐💐

This is wonderful editing! What software did u use to make the pictures and stuff? Are they all digital or something?

You have inspired me to continue my career switch from finance to teaching maths. Thank you

It's always better having the knowledge and not need to use it than searching for knowledge when you are in the urge to solve a problem.

This is an awesome video. I have a math minor, computer science major, but I never understood why everyone needed to learn math. My wife passed College Algebra with a failing grade (a very high F), because I was friendly with her teacher (having the majority of my classes in his department) and begged him to pass her. (She needed that one class to graduate and it was her last semester) So I guess I see why it's important we try to understand math. I don't think it should be a requirement for us to pass.

I understand that mathematics may help with reasoning and critical thinking, but to make it like a tool to see who is more intelligent is flawed. I mean what if in a hypothetical situation a young student dislikes math and isn't naturally good at it, thus making her GPA drop. But in other fields like art and English, she excells at it. So after graduation and applying for an art college, she gets declined because of her low GPA which was caused by her inability to pass math classes during school. Math is a pill that when taken the right amount, can be useful, but when overdosed, it will impair students to be successful . Making higher math like calculus and trigonometry an obligation to credit requirements is irrational and useless. Which is ironic because math was supposed to teach to rationalize.

thanks, we never had that prespective. loving maths even more after seeing this

this is what I asked my teacher back in school and THIS is the answer I was expecting to keep me motivated...

Great content as always. You really deserve more people! I think you should appear in another famous youtuber, talk to them and do a video for them, so that his/her viewers can see who you are... plenty of people do this to get subscribers...

The same exact question i asked myself during college.. Nice video..

this same problem was offered to me and it took me 1 second to come up with the same answer. The key is the planes that don't come back

Everyone else is saying this, but the football analogy was a really good illustration of a skill set helping one become better at something completely different, like how more basic math can actually be a big help outside of math and science. (My former math teacher runs a channel called Atomic Game Theory, where he applies mathematical concepts to board games)

Dude, you're awesome!

The problem with the planes was presented also in the book how not to be wrong.Good video!

Hi Jade! Fantastic! I wish you could be more active! 😁

When I started to take math more seriously, I realized that my thought process was becoming sharper, I’m not a smart person at all, but I’m starting to develop skills that I never thought I was capable of.

Oh my that makes sense. Thanks for this video

So, it doesnt make sense

Thank you! I'm going to read this.

Maths - Only helps in increasing understand potential and solving in daily life Physics - Does what maths does + actually helpful more in daily life + is everywhere around us + new technologies and inventions could be made So overall if you taught people advanced physics .. it will help them in what math does + other benefits too So what I want to say is dont teach advanced integrals and differenciation or other concepts that are not applied in our daily life Instead teach advanced physics. Right?

It doesn't make sense but to watch Jade always worth it.

I like the video just because the way you explain is so appealing

Love your work. J

I've got a massive block when it comes to doing math(s). Thanks for videos like this to explain in a simple way so people like me can understand these things 😉👍 cool example

2 things: fyoo suh laazh is how you are supposed to pronounce fuselage. The most vulnerable part of the plane I think would be the pilot, since if the engine is shot out, there is still a chance the plane can be landed (or ditched) safely. With no pilot, that doesn't seem likely.

0:20 any questions? Me: Yeah wtf?

genie: aalambana.. You have three wishes.. me: I wish there was no maths genie: Your wish is granted. You have no more wishes. Moral of the Story: Math is important

If I only had have a teacher like you I probably could had a chance at being good in math #FeelsBadMan... btw cool animations :D

Math has tons of applications. If the purpose of mathematics in schooling was to train reasoning ability, then replacing math courses with logic courses should be advocated for by your reasoning. Your argument also has a flaw since somebody who disagreed could just respond "then why don't you exercise the reasoning faculty of children by having them do activities that are both reasoning intensive AND directly applicable?"

Software like Maxima, Geogebra, MathCad etc helps a lot with skipping the boring part of math, by symbolically or numerically solving the equations, leaving us with the fun part: building models and interpreting results. Always heated solving equations, computers can do that in most cases 😉

This isn't enough to convince anyone to like maths I think. 🙂 But I like your videos very much. You are too good and entertaining.

Thanks to my love of math and science allowed me to get to know you my favorite video producer and mathematical muse. Ps. I love your accent from down under.

I love your animations

Math makes me go insane EVERYTHING THAT HAS TO DO WITH SCHOOL MAKES ME INSANEEE

The plane-example gives a wounderful argument.

I had exactly these thoughts in my early maths classes. But pretty soon I found I was using bits of this stuff designing radios. Now, many years later, I have used all of it and much more designing components of spacecraft, from communications to experiments. I would be lost without an ability to do advanced maths. Now of course I don't have to perform the actual calculations - Mathcad, Matlab etc do that stuff for me. But I still need to understand what the correct calculation is. And most of all I need sufficient insight to recognise a right answer from a wrong one.

i get that we need to learn numbers and and multiplication etc. but after 6th grade it just gets more complicated and harder to memorize. its not like im going to remember it after 2 years of not doing it.

Hmm. You are so adorable. I have read Jordan Ellenberg's book twice. I should read it again as I am forgetful and it is full of worthwhile ideas. It really is a great book and I am very pleased to see you promoting it. A long time ago I spent almost twelve years of my life teaching high school math at a small community college. I answered the question: "When will I ever use this math?" with blunt honestly. I told my students that they would probably never use any of it. Certainly my pre-nursing students could expect NEVER to have to prove a trigonometric identity while practicing as a nurse. However, proving trigonometric identities is fun. That is why we do it. For the fun of it. Also, because I will not give you a passing mark in the course until you prove them and you will never get into your nursing program without a passing mark in my course. So, even if it does not seem like fun, make it fun. My students were fine with this. I was enthusiastic about my teaching as I believe mathematics is beautiful and fun. I liked giving students some understanding and mastery. By doing so they become independent. They can see that truth is something that is part of reality and not just something made up by someone with the biggest gun. I also liked to show them that with practice and understanding they could become competent and confident with respect to any mathematics they might someday encounter.

Thank you very much for the advice you shared with us from Somalia

Hi Jade... You have used the Air Force Planes story from the book "How Not to be Wrong: The Hidden Maths of Everyday Life" by Jordan Ellenberg no!!! 😍 Recently finished reading it... Gr8 use of the excerpt to outline the use of maths

I've always said that studying engineering makes you an engineer but studying math makes you what ever you want.

THANK YOU! I've been saying this for a long time.

One thing studying mathematics taught me is how stupid I really am...

Jade, you look so fed up in the thumbnail! Not an aspect we associate with your enthusiastic personality at all. 😊

Thanks for motivation

Great Video... ! Love

I never truly said “when will this be useful too me” but I wish that someone would assess how much math is being taught. Im not a person to argue with learning (I love Learning, I do a lot of history, English, and science on my own spare time for fun) but the amount of math were learning is used later in university for fields that it is needed in. I guess that’s truly why they teach it all. So they don’t have to go over it in university for those who have peeked interests in the science field and of course “Math”

Thinking is a skill like any other tbh. For example, if you don't have a language, you can't really think abstract thoughts or even concrete thoughts properly. You can definitely not hypothesize or communicate with others. Similarly, math with it's unique quantitative perspective of the world helps you to quantify everything you see & then make further assumptions & hypotheses. The better you are at math, the better you are at anything you can view as a quantitative system. And everything can be quantified. You just need to look at it the right way.

If its about the problem solving of math why don't we just do that?

Thank you.