A knowledge of maths is not important for most jobs nowadays. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?
(From IELTS-Daily.com)
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Write at least 250 words.
Mathematics is an incredibly useful subject which is learned by almost everyone on the planet to
some degree. Is maths, however, a useful tool for most jobs, especially with the advent of modern
technology? In my view, I would tend to agree that it is no longer a vital part of most jobs, although
it clearly remains critical for some industries.
There is now a growing number of professions where maths is no longer important on a day-to-day
basis at work. Employees no longer need to perform calculations such as adding up bills or
calculating percentages while at work. These jobs are performed by technologies such as tills and
computers which automate the entire process. Once upon a time, retail employees would need to
manually calculate the final sales total, but this process has been replaced, first by calculators and
more recently by electronic tills. Other companies, which would have once had to issue invoices
or calculate future sales forecasts, no longer require employees to manually calculate these since
they have a variety of computer programs to complete this work. As we have a growing number of
people working in these fields, it is safe to conclude that an increasing proportion of the population
does not require basic maths to perform their duties
Despite this, it is important to note that there is, and will always be, a subsection of the population which will probably always be required to rely on their maths skills. Health professionals, such as doctors and dentists, very often have to calculate doses of medicines manually, while researchers in various fields have to calculate statistics and probabilities of events. Finally, there are, of course, those people who work in accounting, auditing or actuarial services who will always need mathematics.
The increased prevalence of technology within workplaces has, in my view, led to maths becoming less important for most jobs nowadays. There will always remain, however, people in society who will rely on this subject to perform their jobs.