It has helped us walk on the moon, create microchips, and transmit images across thousands of miles. With mathematics, we design models to test our ideas and refine them, from nerve impulses to human behavior, volcanoes to food. Mathematics is everywhere. But mathematics has always been around, and the concepts it uses have always helped us. Years ago, in the eras of the abacus or slide rule, information took a lot longer to sort through, but now it is easy to chart a course, assay a risk, or compare statistics.
Information is more abundant than ever.
You can find answers about everything from world politics to school lunches almost as soon as you think of the questions. The down side to all of this is that as easily as there can be information, there can be misuse of information. More than ever, they need to be mathematically savvy. Learning to think and reason mathematically is the only way our children can be sure that they are in control, not being controlled. More practically, almost every job these days requires at least some elementary understanding of mathematics.