Hi! Palme School is here. Today we're discussing where math can come in handy.
The short answer is everywhere.
- The best-paying professions in the U.S. are held by math.
- What are the "soft" skills that math develops.
- 3 Lifehacks that will motivate your child to do math.
Indeed - has come up with a list of the 100 highest paying occupations across the United States.
How do they use math?
- Doctors (from 150.000$ per year). The most important fields are physics, chemistry and biology, but even basic knowledge in these subjects is kept to formulas, figures and calculations.
- IT specialists (from 130.000$ per year). Everything from writing code to building a product design is based on math.
- Marketers (from 120,000$ per year). Calculations, formulas and analysis of customer behavior should be based on numbers, not hypotheses. And any hypothesis is supported by numerical indicators.
- Analysts and finance professionals (from 80,000$ per year). Their work literally consists of numbers.
- Lawyers (from 70.000$ per year). In addition to knowledge of laws and logical thinking, people in this profession often have to deal with basic mathematics: calculate the ratio of cases and pre-trial settlements, gather statistics, analyze the amount of information.
What are the "soft" skills that math develops?
In addition to the direct purpose of math is excellent for training skills that will be needed not only in work, but also in everyday life absolutely any person.
- Logic. Leading discussions and making logical connections is an advantage in society.
- Critical thinking. Separate the grain from the chaff. Find the right sources of information, analyze and propose solutions.
- Concentration. In this article. we talked about concentration and other important skills for a child.
- Spatial reasoning. Orient yourself in a new city, assemble a Rubik's cube and park the car.
- Memory. The more we train our memory, the longer our brain retains its integrity.
The top 3 lifehacks on how to motivate your child to learn math.
We talked about motivation in general in this article: "The biggest mistake in praising a child"
Remember that any motivation must work with positive reinforcement.
Lifehack 1. Incorporate math into a child's everyday life.
"Do you think this garage will fit in our bedroom suite?"
"Who's faster, the cheetah or the hare?"
Or even "Is a trunk a nose or a hand?"
Ask any questions that prompt your child to calculate or reason logically.
Lifehack 2. Don't program your child to fail.
In Part 1 and this article you can read more about the myth of the humanitarian and technical brain, and also a bit about the different workings of the left and right hemispheres.
But to summarize: neuroscientists have yet to find evidence that some groups of people are more successful in technical science than others. Not by gender, dominant gene, or other phenomena.
So the phrases "Girls have a harder time with math", "You'll hate math in school" or "Everyone in our family is a humanities major" do not carry any truth, but only a value judgment and an imposed stereotype.
Lifehack 3. Use tricks.
Formulas and multiplication tables just have to be memorized. It's frustrating, hard to motivate.
- Divide large tasks into smaller tasks.
- Tell me about the secret way to multiply by 9 or divide by 3 (the sum of the digits of a number is a multiple of 3)
- Use verse definitions, finger method, etc.
It is still useful and proper to learn math from Palme School.
And sign up for a free trial lesson here
