Showing posts with label math and work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label math and work. Show all posts
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Math on a farm
Jane wrote:
I don't know why he had it, and I can't guess because I've never learned to use a slide rule.
I'd like to.
I suspect that the data that say the vast majority of people don't use math is inaccurate. I suspect that every small business owner is constantly using basic algebra. We have a family farm and constantly, daily use algebra. My contractor calculated angles, areas, amount of paint, flooring, labor and materials necessary to remodel our house. Our banker uses a calculator, but easily and obviously has the mathematical fluency to have a real time conversation about prices, quantities, exchange rates and whether certain data sources are reliable. The sales people we deal with calibrate machinery to determine how much material we need to use on a field. Of course, I check their calibration calculations as well. Yes, we all use tools, but without the understanding of how the math fits together, the tools would be black boxes and we wouldn't know when a number didn't make sense. And we are constantly figuring out, how much seed to put on a field, if a chemical needs to be applied at a certain flow rate and dilution, how fast does the tractor move. If we can x crop and it costs z to grow and we might sell it for a range of y1 - y2, Which crop should we plant.My dad was a farmer. He always had a slide rule handy on his desk. I was fascinated by it.
I don't know why he had it, and I can't guess because I've never learned to use a slide rule.
I'd like to.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)