Life Skills & Math

Basic math skills are vital for successfully navigating adult life. Every day we use math in many different ways, from managing money to counting calories to home improvement. The math skills most commonly needed include addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and calculating percentages and proportions.

Significance

People need math skills in order to accomplish everyday tasks such as figuring the tip on a restaurant meal or scaling up a recipe. Without math skills, you may run into trouble with money because you cannot create a budget or figure out how much interest you are paying on your credit cards. Around the house, you need to be careful if you are using a cleaning fluid that must be diluted; if you get the proportion wrong, you can damage the finish on your counters or floors.

Making a Budget

Making a budget involves the most basic of skills: addition and subtraction. If you cannot add up all your income and subtract your expenses from that number, you could end up spending more than you can afford. Budgeting also allows you to see how you can pay down debt and save for the future.

Balancing a Checkbook

Addition and subtraction are vital as well when reconciling a checkbook or credit card statement. Although most people now use online banking, it still pays to check the bank's math and make sure there have been no errors in their accounting. A bank or credit card company may also charge fees that you may not notice if you don't know how to check your statement's accuracy.

Calculating a Tip

A generally accepted amount for a tip at a restaurant is 15 to 20% of the bill. In order to figure out this number, you need to know how to calculate percentages. An easier method works in some places: simply doubling the tax on the bill. However, even for that method it is necessary to be able to do simple multiplication quickly in your head.

Scaling a Recipe

Say you're making a favorite recipe for a dinner party. The recipe says it serves four, but you are having a dozen people. The recipe will have to be tripled, and that may mean multiplying fractions and converting measurements (e.g., teaspoons to tablespoons). If you are on a diet and only want half a portion, you will need to know how to divide, too.

Home Improvement

If you want to know how much paint you need to buy to cover your walls, you will need to know the formulas for calculating area. Likewise, if you're interested in window treatments, you'll need to be able to take accurate measurements and then be able to convert that from inches and feet to yards to figure out how much fabric you need.