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Course: College Algebra > Unit 3
Lesson 1: Evaluating functions- What is a function?
- Worked example: Evaluating functions from equation
- Evaluate functions
- Worked example: Evaluating functions from graph
- Evaluating discrete functions
- Evaluate functions from their graph
- Creativity break: Why is creativity important in STEM jobs?
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Creativity break: Why is creativity important in STEM jobs?
Experts share why creativity plays an important role in STEM jobs. Created by Khan Academy.
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- Isn't math more of a logistic activity than a creative one? I understand that some art requires math etc.. But can someone explain all the things that are creative in math? I mean all. Thanks(13 votes)
- I will first apply logic to your question. The probability that one person would know all the things that are creative in math and be able to list them in a relatively short space are either 0 or close to 0 since you meam all. Secondly, you present a hypothesis that has two options, if you are close minded, you can use circular reasoning to prove that math is not a creative activity. If someone can come up with a way math is creative, then you can just say that it is either not math or it does not rise to your definition of creativity because math is a logistic activity rather than a creative one. I suspect that you are in fact open minded to at least consider the arguements and accept that the statement might be false.
Despite the impossibility of answering your question and as a defender of math, I will attempt to give a few examples (not all) of why I feel that math is a very creative activity rather than just a logistic one.
1) Logic: I feel that my answer itself is a creative attempt based in math using logic. Further, lawyers and others must use logic and words creatively to get a client off or apply for a patent. Employers want people who can present logical but understandable arguments.
2) Proportions: recipes can require the correct ingredients in the correct proportions (and somemtimes even added at the correct time) to create culinary masterpieces. This lifts some chefs into the cooking shows.
3) Geometry: in the designing of any number of things such as buildings, gardens, etc. geometry is heavily inwolved with creating something unique for the customer. It also goes back to proportions of getting something from the design/blueprint phase to a final product.
4) Number Sense: One of the first things I tell students who work with me on number sense is that the process will actually change how the brain thinks and help them become outside the box thinkers. I feel this is again one of the creative assets that could make the difference on who gets a job
Scientific/Engineering endeavors: I feel the challenge to get to the moon or create a base on Mars or create a phone which can store gigabytes of memory are all creative ways of applying math to everyday challenges
Algebra: In major projects, you have to creatively determine costs and labor on parts of the project to create timelines and planning so that your company does not do under
Probability and Statistics: May people have tried to creatively beat the odds in Vegas to varying levels of success/failure. Advertising creatively tries to use math and statistics. if you counted all the different brands of toothpaste whom 4/5 dentists recommend or most dentists prefer, you would find that it would be synergistic, that is the sum of all the parts would be greater than the whole (you might see that of 100% of dentists in a given area, there is a 300 or 400% recommendation rate which is impossible).
Troubleshooting: some applications of math require people to troubleshoot programs or games which are unique skills for certain jobs
These are just a few ways that I see the creativeness of math and how it makes a person more desirable of an employee than someone with lesser skills(24 votes)
- What would happen if we didn't use creativity in math?(7 votes)
- If you did not use creativity in math, math would never be used for anything. Science is what happens when you combine creativity with math, we wouldn't have most modern forms of art without creativity. Screens wouldn't exist, it was made with basic arithmetic and creativity. We would never try to advance, we would be stuck in the dark ages and never grow. We would all believe that stuff just happens for no reason. There would be no pyramids, there would be no calendars. You and everyone else in the world would have died of Covid if it wasn't for creativity in math. You most likely wouldn't have been born or would have been dead within minutes anyway.(21 votes)
- Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, careers that have to do with one of these fields.(10 votes)
- What is stem jobs(4 votes)
- It's actually no longer STEM it's now STEAM
Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics(3 votes)
- Why isn't math just writing down equations and solving them(1 vote)
- Math is pretty much everything we can do with numbers, but numbers don't exist in a vacuum, they are everywhere in the real world, so once we know how to work with numbers, we can apply this knowledge to real life problems.
Hope this helps.(7 votes)
- Why does he have to talk so much like it gets annoying. Plus, I already have this stuff crammed in my brain from last year, so, what's the point?(0 votes)
- Then you should question why you are here.(8 votes)
- la creatividad no es tan importante dependiendo de que ecuacion sea(3 votes)
- Sir if i in an equation 2x+3x where no value is attached to x is it still 2time x plus 3times x(2 votes)
- Yes, that is correct! we can actually combine like terms in this problem you've shared. Because 2x and 3x are "of the same family" they can be combined. Since 2 + 3 = 5 we have a simplified equation of 5x.(3 votes)
- How do you make so high-quality videos?
Mia, College, is an extra step in education and life.
Algebra is like an incredibly, beautiful and advanced language. It has all of these letters, numbers and even variables.(2 votes) - How was this suppose to help us with algebra? I’m kind of lost when I watch this….is anyone else lost to know what this means… or am I just dumb?😏🫠(4 votes)
- For real like....the voice is annoying already, just get to the teaching, please.(0 votes)
Video transcript
(soft upbeat music) - I think my idea of how
creativity works in STEM jobs has changed since I've gone to college. I used to think that
all the mathematicians would be locked away in some office and typing on the computers or writing down equations by themselves and coming up with
incredibly beautiful ideas just by themselves. But I'm realizing now that I'm in college that mathematics and creativity, it's a lot about communication, and it's a lot about trying to build off of each other's ideas and bounce ideas off of each other and build upon ideas that
have already been made by people decades ago. And I think that the facts
that we all come with it, with our own perspectives, and different ideas and
different ways of being creative allows math to advance further, because we can all
combine our creative ideas into something bigger. - We collect data on everything, right? And so the ability to use that data in a smart, safe, and efficient way depends on new applications
of mathematical concepts to these new and innovative data sets. As we get to that point, we'll start to be thinking
outside the box a lot more, and we'll be a much more
innovative, digital society, but that can't happen unless
we start trying to be creative, and not just rely on tried and true. (soft upbeat music)