This Pi Day, BYU math education professor answers age-old student question: "When will I ever use this?"
Imagine this: the BYU Cougars men’s basketball team is trailing by a point with only six seconds left in the game. With the clock winding down, the tension is palpable in the Marriott Center. BYU needs a crucial bucket to win the game. So, how do you design a play to get the right player the ball in the right spot to maximize the chances of scoring the go-ahead basket?
The algebra and probability concepts required to solve this problem might’ve seemed pointless when first learned in the classroom. But with the game on the line, these math concepts are more applicable than you might think.
Real-world dilemmas like this fictional situation sparked the curiosity of BYU math education professor Doug Corey, leading him to create a YouTube channel devoted to applying theoretical math concepts to real-world problems. From calculating the perfect bottle flip to understanding how much force is behind a penny dropped off a skyscraper, Math the World videos creatively answer the age-old math question, “When will I ever use this?”
“I began to use the math I was teaching in class to answer these questions, and it totally changed the flavor of the class,” said Corey. “Students stopped asking when they’d use math in real life because now they were seeing it in action.”
One such example that captivated Corey’s students came during a lesson on expected value. The class discussed an infamous BYU football play in which BYU ran a fake punt out of their own end zone on the fourth down. While most sports fanatics would consider this to be a terrible decision, Corey and the students explored the mathematical strategy that guided the thinking. And, as math would have it, the numbers validated the decision.
Since its inception last September, Math the Word has attracted more than 11,000 subscribers, with a significant portion of the viewers coming from Europe. The channel is fueled by a team of undergraduate math education students and Jennifer Canizales, a BYU graduate skilled in math education and graphic design, who curates the visual content.
Canizales, inspired by the recurring questions she fielded from students she taught during her master’s program, saw an opportunity to merge her two passions.
“It's been an awesome opportunity to use both of my disciplines that I'm passionate about to create this channel,” said Canizales. “It’s an important quest because most students don’t get very satisfying answers about how to apply these concepts in everyday life.”
Corey agrees, recognizing the common paradox many students face: understanding that math is useful but struggling to envision its real-world applications. Traditionally, mathematics classes were designed to test the comprehension of concepts and rote memorization rather than fostering problem-solving skills, a trend that Corey aims to reverse.
"Our goal is to change the way that people view mathematics,” said Corey. “It's hard to change the way school curriculum is taught, but we can start making a difference this way.”
Corey’s ambitions extend beyond the burgeoning YouTube channel. He’s teamed up with three undergraduate math education students to develop lesson plans tailored for local math teachers. Come fall, these plans will be put into action, igniting a newfound excitement for math among young learners and breaking the cycle of math apprehension.
For more math videos, you can subscribe to the Math the World YouTube channel here.
