time management

Summer Vacation Math!

Summer Vacation Math!

So you’ve got a TOTALLY awesome vacation coming up! You’re gonna visit some cool sights, try some new food and relax on gorgeous coasts OR none of that at all, it’s YOUR vacation, make it what you want! That all sounds really nice right?! BUT WAIT! Obviously you didn’t forget that everything that goes into planning a super awesome trip involves math, did you? OF COURSE YOU NOT! So we’ll help you out with planning your much deserved vacay with the power of MATH!

Math In Real Actual LIFE!

All too often TMG tutors hear students complain about the lack math’s relevance to their everyday lives. We've all heard the classic “when am I going to ACTUALLY use this in real life?!” and “WHY am I doing this?!” We get it. You think that math is useless. BUT guess what? The answer to these questions is that there IS a purpose to what you are doing - you're EXPANDING YOUR MIND GUYS! You're building a muscle! You're adding a beautiful mathy-coloured lens to the kaleidoscope of your BRAIN! But okay, I get it. You want to see application. You want to see math in action. So we've got it! Sure, maybe not ALL of what you’re learning is totally and completely relevant BUT that doesn’t mean math is IRRELEVANT. In fact, math is totally plays a part in your everyday life, and we're here to prove it to you. So for all you haters out there, here are 5 ways in which you can actually use math IRL.

1. Baking

Did you know that baking is basically where fractions were born? Okay not actually, but maybe! When you read a recipe, all the ingredients needed to make that delicious batch of chocolate chip cookies are measured in fractions. For example, ¼ a cup of sugar, ½ a cup of flour, etc. If you wanted to make 24 or 6 chocolate chip cookies instead of 12, one would have to ACTUALLY do math by MULTIPLYING or DIVIDING the fractions. CRAZY, right?!

2. Road Tripping

Believe it or not, math comes in handy when traveling. Heading on a roadie? if you’re going on a road trip and want to estimate how much gas you need, you would calculate the predicted miles per hour and the distance traveled. By calculating how much fuel you might need for your super fun journey, you're eliminating the possibility of being stranded without gas– AWESOME!!

3. Time Management

One of the best ways to effectively manage your time is to make detailed to-do lists that involve some simple math. One way to figure out the urgency and importance of each task is by rating them on a scale of 1-5 (1 being of marginal importance and urgency and 5 being of critical importance and urgency), and multiplying these numbers (importance x urgency), to find out how to dedicate yourself to the task. Who even KNEW math could be involved in making to-do lists?! So COOL!!

4. Money Management

What should I do with my money? Should I spend, save or invest? How much do I spend per month on rent, groceries and other costs? These are all important questions guys! By NOT asking these questions and NOT doing the math involved in answering them, you could end up broke – YIKES!!

5. Grocery Shopping

Like we said, math is EVERYWHERE. YES, it's even in the grocery store. Ever go into the grocery store and want to figure out the cost of an item on sale or figure out the cost of a bag of oranges per pound? To find out the answers to both of these questions, calculations are needed! Multiplication, estimation, decimals, percentages - all vital to figuring out whether that supersize box of Oreos is actually a deal or ACTUALLY a total scam!