Why math?

Please comment with your response to the often asked question: "Why bother studying math? (I'll never use this again in my life!)"

Conic Sections

I have found while teaching students about conic sections that they tend to forget what is going on, and they end up trying to memorize a ton of formulas and equations. I try to give them as many real life examples as I can in hopes that they will understand what conics are instead of just memorizing how to form equations of them. I found a very useful website that I show them as I introduce the section. You can find it here. Here are just a few examples that the website explains:

Parabolas

canons











satellite dishes















Hyperbolas

sound waves of a plane intersecting the ground














path of light from a lampshade














I often explain the whispering gallery effect (as in St. Paul's Cathedral) to help the students grasp the meaning of the focal points of an ellipse.