How does algebra relate to real life situations? - Answers

One example: You purchase a new home and the backyard is not landscaped. So you want to put in a lawn in a section of the backyard. But you have just purchased a new home, so money is tight, thus you decide to do the job yourself. You know you can afford $1500 for sod, and sod cost $2 a square foot. So how many square feet of Sod can you purchase? 2x = 1500. Well obviously you can purchase 750 square feet of sod. That is awesome, but now you look at your back yard and the dimensions of the area you want to cover are 15 ft long and 25 feet wide. So how many square feet of sod should you purchase? 15*25= 375. Oh great! You only need to buy 375 sq ft of sod at $2 a square foot. So you only need to spend $750 on sod! Well you have planters that you could put some plants into. But they don't have any dirt in them. Each planter is 2 feet high, 2 feet wide, and 3 feet long. How much dirt do you need to buy for one planter? 2*2*3=12. You see you need 12 cubic feet of dirt for each planter. You have 4 planters, but a cubic foot of dirt costs $5. Can you fill all 4 planters with your budget of $750? 12*4=48. So you need 48 cu ft at $5 a cu foot. Well that's $240, so you can fill your planters. You now have $510 left over for plants, what good is a planter filled with dirt without any plants? So you decide to plant 4 types of plants. A Japanese Maple costs $75, Primroses are $5 a package, Iris plants are $15 each, and evergreen bushes are $50 each. You want the same number of plants in each planter, and you want to come as close to $510 as possible...... Ok this example was strictly for yard work. Algebra is used in chemistry, calculus, figuring out how interested is collected and paid (might be important to know how much that new house really costs), etc. You want to paint your house? Want to know how much paint to buy? Use algebra. Good luck with finding more real life situations, they are all over the place.