One of the more common questions I get from kids attending our Traveling Weather Shows regards the use of math in meteorology. Students who might be interested in the study of science and in particular weather want to know why they need to learn mathematics.
Meteorology deals with lots of variables that change with respect to other things.
Some examples would be temperature and wind changing between now and tomorrow, moisture and pressure changing between Milwaukee and Madison, or temperature and moisture changing as you go up into the atmosphere. By using mathematics, scientists are able to use equations to predict how a particular variable might change. For example, this is useful to meteorologists in predicting how the temperature, moisture, or wind could change from today to tomorrow. These equations are derived from physical principles of motion and heat that are studied when being trained in the atmospheric sciences. The most common type of math used in meteorology is calculus.