Math Interviews | Traducción a español abajo | Math Interviews from Mrs. Patti Burwinkel and her math students (ages 9-10) Nativity School in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA Kathleen Clifton           My name is Kathleen Clifton and I just interviewed Margaret L. Clifton (my mom) on how she uses math every day. I decided to interview Mrs. Clifton because I thought it would be nice. The questions I asked were about how she uses math at work, how she uses math at home, and if she uses it any other time. Mrs. Clifton is a math teacher. She teaches algebra and geometry to eighth grade students, Mrs. Clifton said, "I love teaching math to eighth grade students." Mrs. Clifton teaches five hours of math a day. Besides teaching math she also uses math to determine her students' grades. Most of Mrs. Clifton's chores around the house involve math. She uses math when she does laundry, cleaning, cooking, shopping, budgeting, and when she helps her children with math homework. She told me that she uses math when she changes a recipe or sets a temperature for the oven. Mrs. Clifton uses math when she pays bills, balances a check book, and pays for groceries. Mrs. Clifton uses math when she estimates the amount of time it takes to clean her house. "To find a station on the radio, to tell time, to walk a fifteen minutes mile, and to count how many pieces I drop off at the dry cleaners are all ways I use math" Mrs. Clifton said. Mrs. Clifton uses math to estimate time, to estimate cost, and to estimate distances. She says, "math is used constantly but I'd still rather read a good book!" After interviewing my mom I ended up telling her how many ways we use math I couldn't believe it!   Clair Suer WAYS MY DAD USES MATH IN HIS LIFE My dad uses math a lot in life. Dad is an architect, so he uses math quite a lot in his job. He has to make sure things are the right length and width. For example, a sixty inch square window wouldn't fit a seventy inch square hole. Also, the area of the floor in the building matters because if the builders didn't have enough ply-wood to fill the hole in the foundation, they would blame it on the architect for not telling them to have that much. So my dad needs to make sure it is the right size. Dad uses math in other areas of math besides his job. In order to be at the right place at the right time, he has to plan and schedule his time. He uses math to plan his schedule at work because he needs to know when one project will be done so he can start another. Dad keeps track of money so he doesn't spend more money than he has. My father also plays the piano and uses math when he reads the notes. When my dad makes pizza, he uses math to measure the ingredients. He helps me with my math challenge which requires math skills. Those are some of the ways my dad uses math in his life   Stephanie Unterhaslberger My mom works for a Insurance company. She normally works at a computer! She works in the accounting department paying premiums to other Insurance companies. She pays other Insurance companies. She pays the other Insurance companies $2,000,000 a month! She calculates the percentages due to each Insurance company then totals the amounts and pays the bills. She uses different financial programs on the computer. At the end of the year She works with all the people in her office writing a numerical report that must be submitted to the government.   Kelly Findley MATH IN MY MOM'S LIFE For my interview I interviewed my mom. My mom is a Research Fellow at P & G for Folgers coffee. Her job is to tell Folgers what kind of coffee people like best. My mom uses math everyday at work. Let me give you a few examples. My mom designs surveys about coffee. She first determines how many people she needs to ask to see which coffee people like best. After someone asks the people their opinions, my mom counts the opinions she makes a graph. Then she looks at the graph and sees which coffee people like most. She finds out how long making that coffee will take and makes a budget. Next, she tells the workers what kind of coffee to make and they make it.   Alex Kissling How my grandpa uses math My grandpa, Peter Dignan, is a pediatrician and a geneticist. He loves fixing things around the house, woodworking and painting. He uses math a lot in all of these things and really enjoys the challenge. Some of the methods he uses are addition, subtraction, division, and percentages. He really needs math to do his job and hobbies. My Grandpa uses math every day at work. First, by using different math household projects, too. In plumbing, he has to measure out how long or wide the pipes are supposed to be to fit in the wall. In working, he measures where to cut the wood. He might have to mark the place where the ruler stops, measure the rest, and add the numbers together. In art, if he wants to sell a painting he needs to figure out how much to charge for the painting by adding the cost of supplies and his *formulas, he can tell people if they have a chance of getting a disease. He needs math principles to grow and harvest chromosomes in chemicals. To estimate how many people in a| population have a certain disease he needs to use another math formula. He also gives out medicine so he has to measure out the correct amount using math formulas to figure out how much is just enough. Math is very useful to my Grandpa in many ways and if he did not have math abilities he would not be able to do all of these things.   Sydney Riley GRANDMA MATH One day when I didn't have school, I spent the day with my grandma and saw how she used math. We were going to the mall but first we got lunch. She went to Chick-fil-a. When she paid the cashier, the cashier gave her change. We added the change to see if it was right. We went shopping and used math the exact same way. While shopping, we were running short of time. My grandma used math to make sure we weren't late. When we got home, we practiced our piano. We both used math to help us count beats and also follow rhythms. My grandma told me the most important time when she uses math is to count her blessings. That is how my grandma used math that day.   Mike Valentine MATH INTERVIEW OF NICK VALENTINE BY MIKE VALENTINE. I'm going to tell you about my uncle Nick and his job. He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His job was at the Minnesota Vikings Football headquarters as Finance Director. The Vikings headquarters looked like a gigantic rectangle. It was a 2 story building that connected to an indoor football field. Uncle Nick used math in his job every day. First of all, he used it to check how much money they received from the T.V., tickets, stadiums, National Football League, and radio stations. 60% of the money went to the players. He had to make sure that the salaries paid to the players didn't exceed the salary cap. He kept track of the souvenirs that were sold. There were caps, sweats, jerseys, and footballs, all purple and white. They also sold caps with horns and ponytails to look like a Viking. Now, I'm going to tell you about why he quit. First of all, a new owner came in and took over. Next, that guy brought in his own workers. Nick left at age 47, and looked for a new job. I asked him if he liked his old job and he said, "I loved it!"   Peter Harten Math Interview, Novemember, 12,2000 For my interview, I am interviewing my dad. My dad is a physicist and a mathematician. He use to take the information that they collected as part the N.A.S.A. space program and group it together to understand more about space and earth. He also found solutions to problems. Now he works for the E.P.A.. E.P.A. means Environmental Protection Agency. My dad uses mathematics and computers to find solutions for problems in our environment. He finds new chemicals to use in industry that won't pollute the air and water so much. That is why where he works is called Environmental Protection Agency. I am proud of that.