Counting All the Ways We Do Algebra... and don't know it.

I don't know about you but every time I see this meme, shared on Social Media, my blood boils. I think it says a lot about our current culture and state of education but that is for another day. Instead I want to talk about how much we use Algebra and don't even think about it. I would love to hear if you have examples to add to my list.

• When you calculate the time you need to leave your house or need to wake up so that you make it to your destination on time... ALGEBRA!
• When you perceive the distance to something you are trying to grab or the location something will drop if it is thrown or falls. This is a calculation that even a 16-month old baby is capable of doing instinctually. It is also ALGEBRA!
• When you channel your inner Kobe to make a garbage can shot from across the room. Your brain is calculating the distance to the can, air resistance, the weight of the trash, the trajectory, and the force required. But your calculations don't stop there. Your brain is also estimating the nerve impulse to your muscles and the timings to contract and relax them so you can complete the shot.  Although these calculations are unconscious and rapid you are still doing ALGEBRA!
• Athletes are constantly making split second calculations. Cricketers are able to hit sixes only because they are able to calculate the force required to hit the ball. Basketball players calculate the projectile motion of the ball to the basket. Soccer Players (footballers) calculate how to get the ball around a goal keeper. Sprinters calculate the speed to cover their distance to the finish line. Again it is all ALGEBRA!
• Even Fido does Algebra when he catches a treat mid-air or plays fetch with you. He needs to calculate his timing to jump in the air and intersect the trajectory of the object he is fetching. Boom! ALGEBRA!

From Christian Vieler's book TREAT!

Cooking and baking are full of you guessed it... ALGEBRA! Converting recipes from metric to empirical units, scaling up/down measurements, timing out when to put in your turkey so that it is fully cooked when everything else is ready, also calculating how big that turkey should be to feed all of your family, and how long it takes to thaw. ALGEBRA!

While we are in the home... remodeling and doing repairs requires the knowledge of numbers. You will need to figure out how much material you need... how many circuits, how many feet of lumber, how many gallons of paint to cover the surface area of the walls. ALGEBRA!

Last but not least is everyone's favorite way to use Algebra without knowing it: 💲💲MONEY💲💲 Do you have enough money to buy all the cheeseburgers you want to eat? How much is the tip? What is the price I pay after the sale and tax? Can I afford to move in to a nicer place with higher rent? Just more ALGEBRA!

Math Person Poster from scaffoldedmath.com

The moral to this story is that we are all math people and Algebra is something SO USEFUL that we don't even realize we are using it all the time. It is just something our brain does without having to think too hard. So before you like another meme mocking math share a way you actually used math today and spread the word! Let's create a revolution of Algebra aware citizens!