An Investigation of Mathematics Used in Daily Life from Past to Present: Theory out Practice in

Abstract

Mathematics is one of the oldest sciences in the history of humanity. While mathematics was based on trial-and-error in civilizations before ancient Greece (Egyptian and Mesopotamia), it became a formal or descriptive discipline with Greece mathematicians. Mathematics done with the aim of meeting daily needs in the beginning became a matter of worry for people in the process of time. This wonder contributed to development of mathematics. In this study, it was focused on daily mathematics. Daily mathematics is a mathematics which is used for meeting daily needs depends on the acquirements from culture and tradition like the learning of mother tongue without having a formal training. Nowadays, this mathematics continues its existence despite the various explorations made in the fields of theoretical and applied mathematics. People who use daily mathematics in living fields makes simple computations similar to the theoretical computations. When looking mathematics’ journal, it is possible to say that present theoretical mathematics occurs with the legacy of daily mathematics. For this reason, it is important to determine what daily mathematics is and how it is used in real life. Therefore, this study investigates how people use daily mathematics in meeting their needs from past to present.