The Relevance of Mathematics in Everyday Life Then Now.

Introduction by Kelly Harold

This  study comprises the history of a famous mathematician named Peirre Da Fermat. Secondly to conduct an interview with an individual to identify the perception of someone who uses mathematics in their everyday life and job. This will be clearly identified in detail through an interview conductor with an accountant who will give us the insight off mathematics and its benefit to her. And a discussion as to why mathematics is important to me.

Content : A Brief History of Pierre De Fermat

Pierre De Fermat was born between 31 October and 6 December 1607 and died on 12 January 1665 in Beaumont-de-Lomagne. He was a French lawyer and a Mathematician who was given recognition for the progress that led to infinitesimal calculus and including the technique of adequality.  He was of Basque origin and received his primary education in a local Franciscan school. He studied law and probably at Toulouse and at Bordeaux. In 1631 Fermat received the baccalaureate in law from the University of Orléans and he assisted in the local parliament at Toulouse, becoming councilor in 1634. In June 1631, aged 23, Fermat married his cousin Louise de Long. She was only 15 years old. Another month would pass before she celebrated her sixteenth birthday. Fermat was passionate about mathematics and he was a brilliant mathematician. However, mathematics was always just a interest, reserved only for his free time. As such he developed a method for finding tangents to curves and their highest and lowest points, to be regarded as the inventor of the differential calculus. Through his interaction with Blaise Pascal he was a co-founder of the theory of probability as such number theory.

Question and Answer

1.      1.What is your name?

Laura Maharaj (Pseudonym)

 

2.      2.What is your occupation?

Accountant

3.      3.Where is your place of employment?

PWC

4.      4.How much of year experience do you have in Accounting?

I have 2 years experience working as an Accountant.

 

5.      5.How do you include mathematics in your daily life?

I use arithmetic methods to calculate  the difference in percentages ,addition and subtracting of figures to compile  financial statement to  justify profits and losses to prepare reports for companies.

 

6.      6. What type of arithmetic methods do you use?

Simple interest

BODMAS; Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division 

Substitutions

Transpose

7.      7.How did you learn to incorporate these methods in Accounting?

I learned to apply these techniques whilst studying in University.

 

8.      8.How does financial statements use Asthmatic methods for your reports?

BODMAS is greatly used when tallying all areas in financial statements comprises of; Assets, Liabilities, Capital, Income and Expenses to present these reports also simple interest is used to assist Accountant to analyze the statements using accounting ratios which includes finding percentages to compare prior years performance with current years performance to identify increases and decreases.

 

9.       9.What system or device do you used to assist you in compiling all this data?

I use a calculator to verify total figures, however, to tally all the information excel and accounting software (Peachtree) is used to assist us in formulating and calculating all the information as there are many mathematical functions and formulas to assist us in our daily operations.

 

10.  10. Do you think mathematic is important in everyday activities or other jobs?

Yes, I think it is very important as mathematic makes our life orderly and prevents chaos. It gives us the ability to develop skills in critical thinking, problem solving and enhance our communication to help us make decisions daily.

Discussion

           I believe mathematics is important because it help us in everyday life whether, it is to be managing money, balancing the check-book, shopping for the best price, preparing food, figuring out distance or time and cost for travel.

Once such supporting mathematician Pierre De Fermat developed a format called probability and it is widely used in all sectors in daily life like sports, weather reports, blood samples, predicting the gender of the baby in the womb, hereditary disabilities and statics.

This mathematician  had set the foundation for many mathematical approaches that influence others to use his work as a starting point to which then evolve to new mathematical theories for instance his last research number theory was not completed however it was used a foundation of knowledge  to improve in the theory that we have today.  

              Conclusion

            It was noted from our research in creating this blog “The Relevance of Mathematics and Everyday Life” has a huge significance with the past and the future. Pierre De Fermat a mathematician/ lawyer who dedicated his time to set a foundation that allow others to evolve and emphasize his work to create new or continuing mathematical theories to assist us in everyday life. One such theory was probability that was introduced. Furthermore, a questionnaire was conducted to obtain an opinion from an accountant how mathematics influences her job and everyday life.

     Reference

·      Britannica: Boyer. Carl B. 2020; Professor of Mathematics, Brooklyn College, City University of New York, 1952–76. Author of History of Analytic Geometry and others.[ https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pierre-de-Fermat]

·      Wikipedia 2021 Pierre de Fermat 

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_de_Fermat]

·       Connor. J O' and  Robertson. E F 1996 Pierre de Fermat bibliography[https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Fermat/]

·     Ball. W. W. Rouse 1908 A Short Account of the History of Mathematics' [https://www.maths.tcd.ie/pub/HistMath/People/Fermat/RouseBall/RB_Fermat.html]

·      Mahoney, Michael Sean, The Mathematical Career of Pierre de Fermat, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. 1973.[ https://sites.math.rutgers.edu/~cherlin/History/Papers1999/chellani.html]