What maths do you use in your job?

[DreamingofBrie]

A few years ago, a teacher started a brilliant thread on MN, asking posters whether they used maths in their job, and if so what job they did. The thread had hundreds of responses and it was great to see the diversity of the replies - I've used those responses in my classroom to show pupils how maths is used in jobs that they might not have thought of. Replies included a pilot, QC, nail technician, mediator, charity worker, SAHM, computer network programmer, chef, dancer, sports performance coach and many many more.

I'm a Maths teacher, so I use all sorts of maths in my job every day . I'm hoping for more interesting replies from this thread, so that I can update the display in my classroom!

Thanks in advance!

See my username lol! I use maths to calculate discounts due for people buying their house through Right to Buy. I also raise invoices based on any number of spreadsheets and documents. Oh and I calculate direct debit payments.

I am an accountant: I use the standard addition, subtraction, percentages etc every day. Less regularly I use things like: probability trees, geometric sequences and the such like.

I've had to do really random things like: use the average cost of oil, the distances traveled by ships and the average fuel efficiency to calculate expected fuel remaining at a point in time. Use sequences and powers (including non integer powers) to calculate expected costs tens of years in the future, and variations on those according to different rates of inflation. Use algebra to generalise the formula for the expected cost of a set of loan notes.

I also use Excel ALL the time, and have had to learn how to manipulate huge data sets.

I’m an auctioneer. On the rostrum I have to be able to quickly work out percentages if there is a reserve on lots, and to make that percentage work with the increments we’re using.

I need to be able to work out overall values of collections, and to work out commissions based on percentages when people ask.

I'm a chef
I use fractions
Converting weights and measures
Percentages
And budgeting/costing so lots of division

I work in speech therapy and the only thing I can think of is for working out my annual leave!

Or working out the age of a child, but that's on their file anyway. I actually really enjoy maths so it's a shame we don't use it more. We use a lot of English though.

Working out constantly shifting commons majorities.

Wow, I go out for dinner and 70 new posts! I'm finding this really inspiring to read, and the students like to read too - one of them commented about the randomness of the jobs on display! I'm almost looking forward to refreshing my display on a Sunday afternoon .

Basic data manipulation and graphs as a geography teacher! 👍

psychology research. I use maths for

• making experiments for participants to see (e.g. virtual reality computer games which have LOTS of geometry & trig)

• analysing data to understand how people behave in different contexts (lots of stats, matrix algebra)

• analysing brain imaging data (even more stats)

• and general computer programming

Road worker (line painting)
Geometry of road markings spacing, elongation of lettering etc for road speeds, spacing of road studs, %age of reflective bead to line width/length/speed of application
Setting out of car parks using trig triangles for right angle spacing

Road worker / line marker not the usual job that you would think maths applies too, but the calculations affects every road user

I work in HR and do all the things that have been listed above by other HR people (data analysis, pay calculations inc mean/median etc holiday calculations) so not adding anything to the HR party.

However, would also say that it's amazing to me how much of my time can be spent explaining relatively simply concepts to people (eg. pro-rated annual leave calculations, pro-rated salaries etc) and when we do get it wrong the amount of people that tell me they had no idea they were being paid incorrectly as they are seemingly incapable of multiplying their salary out to get an annual figure. So even if your students do manage to find a job with no maths (and from the evidence above that's pretty unlikely) if they want the right amount of holiday or pay they probably will need some maths!

OP thanks for this thread - I teach maths as well - it has made me so happy to read all the good examples, especially the trigonometry.
Do you mind if I steal your idea for a classroom display in our college?

I work in payroll so use maths to work out tax rates, shift enhancements, taxable benefits.

It amazes me how many senior members of staff can't work out their payslips.

RaelImperialAerosolKid no problem at all! I will pm you, as I have the resource for the original thread available for free on TES.

Former Merchant Navy - spherical trigonometry for celestial navigation. Calculus for inertia.

Statistics for KPI reporting. Lots of excel and lovely graphs...

I am currently studying to be/applying for jobs as a social researcher...lots of statistics, regressions, and graphs!
To be fair, the computer does the maths, all I do is turning things like 0.7 into 70%

ATM I'm really interested in how to display statistical information so 'non maths' people (like me!) understand it.

Civil servant here. The real hard-core analysis is done by statisticians and mathematical modellers (quite well-paid jobs for ones with no overtime and lots of flexibility...) I have to understand what they say but also argue with other civil servants, eg when they say a minimum salary should be £29k, have to explain not only how many people that would affect but describe the current spread of pay people get, so standard deviations and means and medians all become relevant.

Often I'm looking at numbers and have to make sure they make sense, so if x% of businesses are affected by whatever, and then someone's written 45000 businesses are affected, and I know there's only 45000 of those in the country, I have to ensure the briefing gets corrected, hopefully before the Minister reads from it in front of the relevant business group and looks a complete idiot...

I am a fitness instructor and PT and use maths for: calculating BMI, working out clients’ calorie intake and expenditure, and for planning timings and durations of exercises in group exercise classes.

In my previous career (clinical physiology) reading ECG's, as already mentioned the angles but also rate and the height of ECG are meaningful.

For echos looking at how efficient the heart is pumping.

In the cath lab measuring pressures inside the heart and arterial pressure.

Reprogramming pacemakers to the best options for a patient. One 95 year old, quite understandably didn't want a new pacemaker but I could program it to lengthen the battery life. Pacemakers work by delivering a small shock down a wire (or wires) that is i your heart, you can program the voltage used, the duration of the shock and various speeds eg to slow down over night.

Teaching health and social care - reaching basic stats to students and teaching them how to use Excel.

Teaching computer science, some of the simplest programs are to perform calculations or produce drawings by programming angles and directions.

Outside work I use it in sewing and cooking. At uni I once used pythagoras in my lunch break to help a drama student work outan era of a stage.

Oh and I'm just doing my first OU unit in maths.

I've just come across one job which maybe some of them wouldn't think of .... being a top mathematician and female.

https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3538127-female-mathematician-wins-prize-despite-sexism-of-universities

Probably not exactly what you're looking for but perhaps of interest to some on this thread.

Student support and work with students on improving FS and GCSE level maths. A feature of it is linking maths to real future careers, so love this thread.

After hearing from the HR people on here, I'm worried that I should be querying my payslip? Maybe I put too much trust in HR.

Thanks Eccles - was really pleased to read the news about Karen Uhlenbeck too!

Bump for the afternoon crowd.

I'm a maths teacher.

Outside the classroom I use maths ALL THE TIME!

How many days until payday? How much money left each day until then? How long left before I can yell at the kids to go to bed? If tea is at 6pm what time do I need to put the jacket potatoes in? If I iron 15 things a day how long until my ironing pile disappears? If I manage to fall asleep in the next 10 minutes how long will I get to sleep before the alarm goes off?