Where/When do you use algebra in your life and how often do you use it?

Well. Algebra, in the formulaic method I was taught, went the way of fairy tales.

When I re-entered mathematics as an adult, for my own good, I discovered how I’d missed the ‘base”. I took math from very basic through advanced algebra in 5 weeks, because I found my base and suddenly the advanced concepts made sense.

It isn’t just something you have to learn. It’s a language, when you understand. It has applications in your life, every day. You just might not know that you are doing “algebra”.

- I agree 100% with @Blueroses. Algebra’s a useful tool in my day-to-day life, regardless of whether there’s an actual equation with a variable.

- I once used Calculus to determine how many cans of paint would be needed to cover a dome-shaped ceiling.

I use it and other advanced mathematics at work. We use algebra to formulate the present value of a decaying security. We also use calculus to determine volatility surfaces.

But algebra is used without naming it as such in daily tasks as cooking. When you are cooking four different things and you want them all to be ready at the same thing, you’re really constructing an algebra problem in your mind. It just doesn’t seem that way because you are applying day to day knowledge; but it is an algebra problem.

Exactly my point @zenvelo. We construct these algebraic rhythms every day, without realizing that it’s “Algebra”.

If you take the fear out of the word and teach in a more constructive, daily application. Most everybody can “do” algebra.

I use it at least once a day… And not just for work!
Is that a good investment? What is the interest rate? How fast will the principle double? Yesterday I saw a link that talked about a planet orbital game. I used it to calculate the required velocity.
Today I used it at work to decide the size of a metallic diaphragm.
Yep… Every day.

As a programmer I use algebra often when I am creating a program or when I try to solve a problem easier and faster than most people.

So many ways, for so many things, but the time I spent as a professional cake decorator was more like revisiting the sandpile days. There was tiny paper airplanes, sifting, globbing, smoothing, getting my hands messy, shaping stuff to resemble something people would recognize. You never know just what will be brought with you from youth!
Some mathematics was needed for calculating diameter ti make different sized layers match up, figure portion size and number served. make tiers line up evenly. Mostly I got messy, wore an apron with lots of colors, and saved cutaway scraps for snack.

I used my math skills when I worked in a lab for the highway department. That was a fun job too, and I had real sand at that job.

As others have said, any time I figure out what gas will cost me to get to a specific place, or follow a recipe, I’m using algebra. Many people don’t realize that these kinds of calculations (which can usually be done in one’s head) are algebra, partly because they’re afraid of “school math” and I think also partly because they think of algebra as “a different language” as @Blueroses put it.

I don’t think of algebra as a different language… I just think of it as math. There are symbols, yes, but it doesn’t have a separate grammar or syntax; you can’t translate something into algebra that wasn’t already algebra (whether you knew it or not).

I think that enhancing the “other-ness” of math in this way just makes it more remote to people who are afraid of it. In this sense, I don’t know that it’s particularly useful to even give algebra a separate name from other kinds of math. It’s just a continuation of things one learned before algebra; it builds on arithmetic, and it will in turn be built on with calculus (which most of us do not use every day). But it’s not really “separate” from those kinds of math. All of the underlying rules and assumptions are the same.

Just today…. Fuel economy for my van. Fuel price difference between two gas stations and amount saved. It is so natural I don’t even think about it nor notice when I am doing it. I’ll keep adding items as they come to mind.

When I’m shopping for something and I want to determine the price per each to comparison shop.

All day, every day.

(I work in finance.)

Every day, whether at work as a machinist, or at home as a gamer.

I still contend that the ability to see things in a logical structure is greatly enhanced by an understanding of Algebra.
learning Algebra is teaching your mind a new way to see things. Video games do the same thing. If you want to get better at a video game you will learn the programmers’ logic patterns and use them to better your game.
You advance by learning more complex logic patterns and applying them.

You can use it in business to calculate break even point. No use trying to sell a product if you need to sell 10,000 to break even. You can also use it to figure out the cost per item (slope) if it comes in multiple package sizes e.g. 4 for $x, 10 for $y: how much for the product, how much for the packaging. Are you paying a lot for the packaging?

@RocketGuy Price comparisons are an excellent everyday example. I do this every time I’m in a grocery store.

@RocketGuy I wish that more people could understand the concept of breaking even.

This is one of the main reasons why so many restaurants fail. People are excited about decorating a beautiful space and sharing their prized creations, and they forget that food preparation is a costly and labor-intensive manufacturing process. The ingredients are raw materials that get turned into finished products. Someone’s salmon mousse might be extraordinary, but it can’t stay on the menu if its sales price doesn’t exceed its costs.

Great answers! It’s definitely a useful skill, and as others have pointed out, it’s a way of thinking that people don’t even realize is algebra. I realize that I don’t even realize I’m using it sometimes (if that makes sense…).

To figure out the calorie content of an item – 2 crackers are 75 calories, but if you eat 5, how many calories is that?

Here’s how I’d solve it: 75*2+75/2≈188 calories.

5(75/2) = x
5(37.5) = x
187.5 = x

@dxs, you solution is easier and more elegant than my own. I took the longer route, and put a variable into the equation, just to show that the cracker problem is answered by algebraic reasoning. People might not think of the question as algebra, but it really is.

My approach is the same, only I define it in steps to myself:
My question is, how many calories are in 5 crackers… x= calories over 5 (x/5)

I take the bottom number and put it over 1 to hold the space, then multiply by my “known” there are 75 calories in 2 crackers”
(5/1) (75/2) = 5*75/2 = 177.5

For those calories, those better be some big-ass delicious crackers!

@Blueroses Exactly. It’s a proportion, but I find proportions difficult to do in my head. In that last post, I don’t feel like I explained well how I would do it myself. I do what @SadieMartinPaul does. Find out how much it is for one cracker, then use that as a basis to find n amount of crackers by simply multiplying that number (37.5). In this case, n is 5. Another algebra application.

I used it today to answer a question raised by @ragingloli.