What is Math? “Math is a group of ideas based on concepts of quantity, structure, space, and change.” These ideas have been around for thousands and thousands of years. It is a universal language that every culture understands. Although math is seen as just a “subject” in school, it holds a much greater value. Math is essential for everyday life. When following recipes, shopping for clothes, or constructing buildings, you are using mathematical ideas. Learning in a mathematical fashion helps solve problems logically. It also helps to be precise and to the point, which is a quality that is useful in many work related areas. It’s hard for me to write about my philosophy of mathematics without covering the area of education. When it comes to students and math there is a giant misconception. That misconception is that math is all about computation and formulas. Math is one subject that I know gives students the most trouble. For students, memorizing theorem after theorem and learning about Pythagoras and Euclid is not only tedious, but useless. You may not need to know every single formula and every single mathematician, but having a better understanding of mathematics will only be beneficial in the long run. Like I said before, math is not only in the classroom but in the world around us. In almost every job I can think of there is some kind of math being used. Whether it’s simple addition as a teacher or analyzing the probability of risk and injury as an actuary, math is a primary component. If there is one thing you can take from reading this, it’s that math is more than numbers on a piece of paper. It’s a language, of which is spoken every day throughout the world.