Why do we have to learn algebra and how do people use it in our daily life?

Question

Why do we have to learn algebra and how do people use it in our daily life?

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Answer 1

There are a crap ton of useful properties that are basically algebra. For instance, let’s say you want to know what 25 percent of 60 is. “Percent” just means “divided by 100,” and “of” means “multiplied by,” so what we’re asking is what’s X in the equation

X = 25/100 * 60

So take 25, divide by 100, and multiply by 60 and you get 15, which is the answer.

But now let’s say what we wanted to know is what percent of 60 15 is. You can just rearrange the equation. Instead of the one above, we want to know what the percent is, so we can write:

15 = X/100 * 60

There are some algebraic rules that tell us we can move the X to one side by writing the formula above as:

X = 15 * 100 / 60

Put that in your calculator and you get X is 15.

There are a whole mess of these things and they come in handy for all sorts of things, like figuring out how big of a tip someone left or whatever.

Note also that using spreadsheets and writing software is the same kind of thing.