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The number one complaint I hear as a mathematician is
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what am I going to use this for? And quite honestly, maybe you're not using calculus every day of your life
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But one thing that math teaches us is how to think critically
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It teaches us how to be resilient and also improves our decision-making
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Thinking through mathematics in that way, it really helps us transfer those skills
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than to our everyday life. When someone tells me that they hate math
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I really try to get them to just appreciate mathematics as a discipline
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much like you might take an art appreciation course, which exposes you to all the beauty of art
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and different types and works of art. What would a math appreciation course look like
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What might we show people in a class that says, we're not doing any calculations
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We just want you to see the beauty of mathematics and where it shows up
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That's a class that people get excited about because they're like, great, if I'm not being tested
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if it's really just about me appreciating the beauty of it, I'm here for it
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Tell me all about it. I think we miss opportunities to connect people
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to the beauty of mathematics because we want them to understand the structure
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and the order, and we want to move them through math courses that aren't always
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tied to the beauty that mathematicians get to see as they stay in the field
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And so I'd love to think about ways for people to see that earlier so that then they can become more excited about the field
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Whether or not they go into it, they can appreciate it. Just like whether or not they become an artist
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they can still have beautiful pieces of artwork in their home
