well my teachers keep saying how math is so important and stuff for some careers and then someone else told me computers do most of the calculations and stuff now. all you gotta do is plug in numbers and you get an answer then you do the work
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For a start... math is needed to lead the computer to the path of calculating the answers. True, it might seem obsolete with the advent of softwares and computers, but in the event that the software fail, or that you need to calculate without computers... that is where math is important.
Another way to look at it is that Math is important because computers are doing the math I guess.
Another way to look at it is that Math is important because computers are doing the math I guess.
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People like Stephen Wolfram are trying to make computational mathematics accessible to everyone, even without mathematics backgrounds, and he seems to be making some headway into this rather lofty goal with Wolfram Alpha.
Personally though, I know that, at least for the foreseeable future, computers are only as good as the people who use them. There is still value in thinking mathematically, because it can help deduce errors or inconsistencies.
Perhaps you entered a number incorrectly into your calculations? The computer would not know; it would compute for you a number that you could take for granted as correct. Of course, you can do the same thing in your head, but maybe you can look at the number and deduce that it's incorrect (e.g. it might be far larger than predicted, or negative when it should be positive, etc). So, the computer can do computations (often with far more reliability than the person using it), but having the mathematical ability to perform checks and balances makes it really reliable.
Personally though, I know that, at least for the foreseeable future, computers are only as good as the people who use them. There is still value in thinking mathematically, because it can help deduce errors or inconsistencies.
Perhaps you entered a number incorrectly into your calculations? The computer would not know; it would compute for you a number that you could take for granted as correct. Of course, you can do the same thing in your head, but maybe you can look at the number and deduce that it's incorrect (e.g. it might be far larger than predicted, or negative when it should be positive, etc). So, the computer can do computations (often with far more reliability than the person using it), but having the mathematical ability to perform checks and balances makes it really reliable.
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Computers do computation, not mathematics. Math is the reasoning behind the calculations and understanding of the results. Computers cannot help you there.
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computers do most of the number crunching but you still need to know the math or have a good background. reason is you need to know if the results make any type of sense and you have to be able to interpret the results. sorry to burst 'yer bubble :)