MATHS

WHY MATHS MATTERS

As a maths teacher I have often said that I would retire early if I only had a dollar for every time a student asked me “When will I ever need to know how to ….”. This is a refrain heard in maths classes around the world regardless of the topic being studied. Never would I have predicted that 2020 would be the year that so effectively answered that question.

We currently find ourselves surrounded by evidence of the importance and use of mathematics as an analysis, predictive and decision making tool. Every day the news cycle is filled with curves, ratios, percentages, statistics and data. It effectively highlights, in ways never seen before, how necessary it is to have people who understand and can apply mathematics at the highest levels. Perhaps the most interesting part for me as a maths teacher is to see how our VCE curriculum can be so directly mapped as the foundation of the important work being done.

Just to highlight a few examples:

• Exponential growth and logarithmic modelling (Math Methods and Specialist Maths)
• Smoothing curves using moving means (Further Maths)
• Understanding and interpreting data (Further Maths)
• Analysing trends and forecasting (Further Maths)
• Understanding and predicting how curves are changing (Math Methods)
• Identifying when a curve will ‘flatten’, finding points of inflection (Specialist Maths)
• Statistical inferencing and hypothesis testing (Specialist Maths)

However all of this relies on a strong foundation of arithmetic, algebra, geometry and probability and statistics developed throughout Prep-10. So maths matters to Mathematicians, Scientists, Economists, Business owners, Doctors, Politicians – in short to all of us.

Emma Mullane

Maths Teacher