Ask HN: How to apply Mathematics in life? - ghostpirate
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beagle3
You apply mathematics all the time - when you watch a car, you estimate based
on it's position, first derivative (velocity) and 2nd derivative
(acceleration) whether it is safe to cross the road. But you do that
intuitively, and you're probably asking about using math explicitly. In that
case ....

Probability is useful in any setting that requires a decision, and can often
be done in your head or back-of-the-envelope style. Requires that you be aware
of bayes' rule (and base rate fallacy) to not lead you astray.

Logarithmic scales are often useful for things that behave that way - like
stock and currency prices. It's very rare to see a long term logarithmic graph
of such values, although much of the information is only apparent on this
scale.

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kqr2
There are quite a few popular books on this topic, e.g. _How Not to Be Wrong:
The Power of Mathematical Thinking_ :

[https://smile.amazon.com/How-Not-Be-Wrong-
Mathematical/dp/01...](https://smile.amazon.com/How-Not-Be-Wrong-
Mathematical/dp/0143127535)

~~~
vorotato
This is a good example of how applied mathematics can be useful, but I think
we also need good examples of how pure mathematics can be useful as well. Most
pure mathematics folks do talk about how it is like lifting weights, what they
often fail to mention is how having words for very abstract things can cut out
a lot of detail and allow you to see relationships between elements that would
otherwise be obscured by that very detail. For this I think Eugenia Cheng's
book "How to bake Pi" is a good example.

[https://smile.amazon.com/How-Bake-Pi-Exploration-
Mathematics...](https://smile.amazon.com/How-Bake-Pi-Exploration-
Mathematics/dp/0465097677)

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williamstein
If you learn how to read and write proofs (formal mathematical arguments), you
can apply what you've learned to thinking clearly, systematically and
logically about various things. For example, clear rigorous disciplined
deductive thinking is extremely helpful in writing, debugging and testing
computer software.

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fraser
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagorean_theorem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagorean_theorem)
To figure out how long of a wire to to use when hanging a picture. It was
actually a 5 ft wide mirror, so trickier than a normal wall picture.

Lots of geometry in woodworking, figuring out the sequence of cuts, and angle
of cuts to get the desired result.

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h1srf
Am I missing something here? Addition? Subtraction?

