{"id":192,"date":"2026-04-18T10:55:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T10:55:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/borovik.net\/selecta\/?p=192"},"modified":"2026-04-18T10:55:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T10:55:33","slug":"why-do-people-have-to-learn-algebra-you-have-no-use-for-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/borovik.net\/selecta\/2026\/04\/18\/why-do-people-have-to-learn-algebra-you-have-no-use-for-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Why do people have to learn algebra? You have no use for it."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>My <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quora.com\/Why-is-learning-algebra-so-important\/answer\/Alexandre-Borovik\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">old post on Quora<\/a>, an answer to question<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Why do people have to learn algebra? You have no use for it.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Now I would perhaps slightly modify it, see my Addition at the end of the present post.<\/p>\n<p class=\"q-text qu-display--block qu-wordBreak--break-word qu-textAlign--start\">It could be argued indeed that it is wrong that\u00a0everyone\u00a0is forced to learn algebra at school.<\/p>\n<p class=\"q-text qu-display--block qu-wordBreak--break-word qu-textAlign--start\">However, without (pretty basic, between us) school algebra further study mathematics, or statistics, or computer programming is impossible.<\/p>\n<p class=\"q-text qu-display--block qu-wordBreak--break-word qu-textAlign--start\">Not learning algebra dramatically narrows further educational choices. Catching up later is very difficult \u2014 if you have not learnt algebra as a child or, at the latest, in your teen years, to do this later is of course possible but requires a degree of determination and self-discipline not normally found in general population.<\/p>\n<p class=\"q-text qu-display--block qu-wordBreak--break-word qu-textAlign--start\">Therefore, without algebra, the education system is less democratic. This is already a heavy price to pay.<\/p>\n<p class=\"q-text qu-display--block qu-wordBreak--break-word qu-textAlign--start\">In general, mathematical education is increasingly the issue of democracy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"q-text qu-display--block qu-wordBreak--break-word qu-textAlign--start\">Proper mastery of mathematics gives a person the ability to create in the head mental images of complex systems and operate with them,\u00a0see\u00a0them. We are surrounded by complex systems, we drown in them \u2014 in stuff starting from smartphones to the Internet and social media . Very complex computer programs make more and more decisions on peoples\u2019 lives &#8211; whether someone can be hired to a particular job, or given a bank credit, or sold a a particular insurance policy, and so on.<\/p>\n<p class=\"q-text qu-display--block qu-wordBreak--break-word qu-textAlign--start\">Properly mathematically educated people are sighted among the blind.<\/p>\n<p class=\"q-text qu-display--block qu-wordBreak--break-word qu-textAlign--start\">If you wish to stay blind &#8211; it is your choice. Or you may think that it is entirely your choice. Actually it could happen that it is already pre-determined by a dismally bad education which, most likely, had been offered to you so far \u2014 otherwise, perhaps, you would not ask the question <strong>\u201c\u00a0Why do people have to learn algebra?\u201d<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Added 18.04.26:<\/p>\n<p>I think the question needs a reformulation and should be<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Why at least some<\/strong> people have to learn algebra?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>with the\u00a0 answer<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Because\u00a0 the human race still has to use it<\/strong>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My old post on Quora, an answer to question Why do people have to learn algebra? You have no use for it. Now I would perhaps slightly modify it, see my Addition at the end of the present post. It could be argued indeed that it is wrong that\u00a0everyone\u00a0is forced to learn algebra at school. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/borovik.net\/selecta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/borovik.net\/selecta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/borovik.net\/selecta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/borovik.net\/selecta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/borovik.net\/selecta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/borovik.net\/selecta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":193,"href":"https:\/\/borovik.net\/selecta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192\/revisions\/193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/borovik.net\/selecta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/borovik.net\/selecta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/borovik.net\/selecta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}