by Bill Graham

My math students would often ask me, “What do you ever need this stuff for?” Sometimes it’s clear that the math is relevant to their daily lives. Other times I explain that what we are learning doesn’t have much use around the house, but is needed in science and math courses in high school and college, helps them develop their problem-solving skills or is a tool they may use in their career. Who knows what skills they will need 10 years from now? So let’s make math relevant and try a real-life problem about two students and the Mira Costa football team.

Humphrey has really gained weight! When Humphrey, who weighs 199 pounds, joined Mira Costa’s football team, the average weight of the team increased from 177 to 178 pounds. Then Humphrey’s sister joined the team too, and the average weight increased again from 178 to 179 pounds. How much does Humphrey’s sister weigh?

OK, so I was just kidding about this problem’s relevancy to real life. Don’t you just love (or hate) problems like this? They’re of no practical use except to exercise your brain. I think the world can be divided into two groups. The first group reads the above problem and says, “That’s dumb. Who cares?” The second group says, “OK, this looks like fun. Let x equal the cube root of the reciprocal of the hypotenuse, then . . . ” I hope you’re in the second group.