You WILL use math in the Real World!

tcord1964 — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 05:52:00 GMT

I seem to have found the perfect time to study for my Math for Business and Finance Course: during my lunch break. Each day, I get an hour for lunch. This is perhaps the only uninterrupted hour I have during the day, at least when I’m awake. I have eating with one hand and writing with the other down to a fine science.

Because of my lunchtime cram sessions I am quickly making my way through the third of four lessons contained in the course. I should be able to take the next exam in the next week or so, after I pay to extend my current semester. At least I still have access to my online student portal at the Penn Foster College website.

Now that I have battled my way through various formulas and algebraic equations in my math course, I am at the portion of the course which actually deals with business. The chapter which I’m currently studying deals with balance sheets, income statements, financial ratios and trend analysis.

It’s funny, but a few short months ago, I wouldn’t have had any idea what a balance sheet looked like, let alone what a business was supposed to do with one. Now I’m preparing balance sheets and applying them to real-world business situations. I’m not saying I have attained the knowledge of a Wharton student, but I now know what I didn’t know before.

More importantly, I find myself actually using the math I have learned during this course while I am on the job. My managers ask me to crunch numbers on merchandise supply, shipping orders and discounts on merchandise. I am now able to pick up a calculator and quickly spit out an answer, or better yet, figure it out in my head and give them an answer. I have always considered myself a math moron. I never would have dreamed somebody would be asking ME the answer to a math problem!

I have a son in high school who is also struggling a bit with algebra. He has tried to reason with me that he will never use that kind of math in the “real world”. There was a time I might have agreed with him. Now I can look him in the eye and say “you WILL have to use this kind of math after you get out of school” and I can give him some examples. I guess I’m learning something after all.

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My Penn Foster College Experience : Math for Business and Finance

You WILL use math in the Real World!