25 Will I Ever Use This?

While learning math, have you ever wondered, “will I ever use this”? This question marked a pivotal turning point for me as an undergraduate college student. Despite doing well and liking math throughout high school, I did not test into college-level math courses when I first enrolled. I spent most of my freshman year trying to “catch-up” by taking several remedial math classes.

By sophomore year and after nearly failing my pre-calculus class, I decided on a journalism major. Since I had already satisfied the general education math requirements for the major, I dropped calculus and believed the answer was clear: no, I would never use what I learned in those math classes.

However, I quickly realized that the question was not whether I would ever use what I learned in math classes but when I would use it.

As a professor in the UA’s Center for The Study of Higher Education, I investigate how federal, state, and institutional policies impact students’ opportunities to attend and complete college. Within education research, we ask important questions about whether policies and practices help or hinder students’ educational opportunities. For example, does attending preschool as a young child relate to long-term educational achievement? Do smaller class sizes improve student learning? Does completing a baccalaureate degree yield consistent employment and earnings?

Quantitative reasoning — using basic mathematical skills like arithmetic, algebra, and statistics to analyze and interpret real-world quantitative information — is used to answer these questions.

For example, statistical inference helps us make important decisions under uncertain and imperfect knowledge by converting data into usable information. Statistical principles can identify patterns and quantify the likelihood that patterns we observe in the data are real or if they just occur by chance. For example, say we find that college students in smaller classes at UA perform at higher rates than students in larger classes. Statistics help us assess the probability that students enrolled in other universities would see similar educational gains if placed in smaller class sizes.

There are many other disciplines that also use these same statistical principles for answering important questions. Public health professionals use the weather, search engine queries, and travel data to predict infectious disease outbreaks. During presidential elections, political scientists use polling, primary results, and voter turnout to make projections. Agricultural scientists also use statistics to measure the effect of climate change, consumption patterns, and new technology on meeting global food demand.

However, quantitative reasoning is not limited to academic research settings. We — yes this includes you, reader — use quantitative reasoning in daily tasks like calculating discounts while shopping, using probability to plan around the weather, and understanding interest rates on a credit card.

Quantitative reasoning is also an important tool for responsibly consuming and critically analyzing the vast amounts of information accessible through the Internet and other forms of media. Take for example a news article with the headline: “Number of Unemployed Americans Tripled in 2020.” While this figure certainly seems concerning, good quantitative reasoning skills would lead you to further assess the headline. For instance, you may consider interpreting the magnitude of the quantity (i.e., how many Americans were unemployed in 2019 versus 2020). You may also question how the rate was calculated given the many different ways of defining who is employed versus who is unemployed, which could yield very different unemployment rates. It may also be informative to contextualize the change in unemployment rate from 2019 to 2020 over a longer period of time to assess whether the yearly change was consistent with historical patterns.

These sorts of questions highlight the goal of quantitative reasoning. It is less about how to calculate the right answer and more about understanding the meaning of the calculation results.

While I did not have the chance to benefit from an undergraduate curriculum focusing on this kind of quantitative literacy, as a graduate student I got to take statistics classes that stressed the importance of strong, quantitative reasoning skills. The goal was not simply to crunch formulas and find the right answer. Rather, we learned how to calculate, interpret, and draw conclusions from metrics in order to improve educational practice and policy. This approach made understanding and applying mathematical concepts much more approachable, beneficial, and — dare I say — fun. Now, I leverage quantitative reasoning in my work every day to improve educational outcomes for students.

Quantitative reasoning goes far beyond the simple application of math. It helps us develop a strong set of critical and creative problem-solving skills that are used in everyday life. So, yes — you will use the quantitative reasoning that you learn in your classes over and over again.

About the author

name: Karina Salazar

Karina Salazar is a local Tucsonan that enjoys spending time with family, her dogs, and gardening. Gardening can be a frustrating cycle of long-term investment for short-term successes — many plants go through long periods of time without blooming to prepare for the next season of growth. Karina’s undergraduate math experience, although frustrating and seemingly without successes, was a growth season that helped her develop foundational quantitative reasoning skills that she uses every day to help expand college access as an assistant professor in the College of Education.

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