Do you use or apply algebra in your line of work?

Question

If you use algebra on a daily bases, what type of work do you do? It seems many feel this math is really for a select few. Let me know your opinion on this matter.

Thank you

Answer 1

I use algebra all the time as a web developer when writing code.

I use algebra when determining what my billable hourly rate should be.

I use algebra when determining which payment processors my clients should use (if client sells x number of products at y dollars, what is the percentage that Visa/MC takes? what is left after payment gateway fees are paid? drop in the fees of various payment processors and I've got some real answers for my client.)

I use algebra when determining how much a $60 shirt is if it's 15% off.

I don't know who is saying math is only for a select few but, cripes, that's ridiculous. The carpenter building my deck uses math. The plumber who ran pipes to my bathroom uses math. Shall I continue? ;-)

Answer 2

I work in IS as a systems administrator.  A good example of how we use algebra is capacity planning and budgeting.

For example:

With our current server hardware, we can put about 75 users on one terminal server before the load on the server causes the users to notice performance degradations.  If we want to be able to support 650 concurrent users, how many servers do we need to buy?

We have 240 servers.  We want to purchase a product to provide automated backups of the servers, and we're considering product A and product B.  product A costs $20,000 to install plus $100 per server for licensing.  product B costs $10,000 to install plus $200 per server for licensing.  If we consider the products to perform equally well, which is more cost efficient?  What if we expect to add 40 servers next year?  

_/

Answer 3

I work in an administration field and use Algebra quite often - I find it hard to believe myself!  ie. to find a profit margin: a = buy price, b = sell price  :-  (b - a) / b x 100 = profit%