The Fundamental language of Mathematics

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Today, you will have done a mathematical calculation. You might not have realised it, but you did. Whether it was how many more minutes in bed you could have before you had to get up, or whether it was how much water to put in the kettle for your morning cup of coffee. Mathematics is a fundamental language that everyone needs to be able to speak in order to survive today: nowhere in life can it be avoided; without maths, we would be lost: living in chaos. Because of this, maths should play a larger part in the Scottish secondary curriculum, up until the point where pupils have the opportunity to leave school. This would ensure that the future generations must be equipped with the essential skills required to function in contemporary society, based upon mathematics.

Studying mathematics gives students, not only knowledge about formulas and skills such as addition, but much more than that. Math teaches students how to think logically. Problem solving skills; the methodical, analytical, and through mind; the structured approach to finding solutions – these are all skills learnt which allow humans to face situations in a tactical, and more often than not, successful, way. The deductive logic and emotionless thinking that mathematics develops can be used in any way, in any situation. Your mind does not follow formulae, or work in numbers. It’s not a computer. That is the difference. It works out trajectories, volumes, probabilities and risks approximately. It does everything roughly, with an ‘ish’ answer result. Decisions are made as an educated guess, no numbers, and nothing written down.

The one requirement for successful decision making is logic. You can way up the pros, the cons, the possibilities, and the likelihoods. Choosing t...

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http://designtaxi.com/article/101816/The-War-Of-Logic-VS-Creativity/

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7277162.Mr_Sivapalan_resource_person

http://ajot.aotapress.net/content/57/2/139.full.pdf

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2011/jun/14/maths-skills-lacking-school-leavers

http://www.cbi.org.uk/media-centre/press-releases/2011/05/poor-standards-of-english-and-maths-among-school-leavers-could-hinder-growth-cbi-edi/

http://www.conservativehome.com/localgovernment/2013/09/raising-standards-for-school-leavers-in-english-and-maths-is-crucial.html

http://www.palgrave.com/skills4study/studyskills/thinking/creative.asp

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