Algebra in real life

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I am hoping to enter LPN school in January. I ordered the NET study guide and see that there will be algebra problems on the test. I hope this doesn't come off as a totally ignorant question, but I was really hoping any LPNs/LVNs out there who are on the job could give me some real life examples of how algebra is used on the job as an LPN/LVN. Or, if this question has been asked before (I'm new to this website), could someone please give me the link to the forum? Thanks so much!

Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
pagandeva2000 and TheCommuter...I have to ask...what does "socially promoted" mean exactly?? I'm clueless here.
Here is Wikipedia's comprehensive article on social promotion. Click on the link below to get there.

A classic example of my own social promotion is the fact that I had taken and passed 4 years of college-prep level algebra during high school, yet I never even learned to balance a simple equation during those years. The math teacher was simply giving passing grades to people who had good attendance, even though they could not do the work due to a lack of basic skills.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_promotion

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

Maybe I can apply math in this way, somehow. I need a professor that would make it incredibly interesting for this to work, because I can't do it alone...

I DO plan to sit for an algebra class one day, just for ME...not school, no pressure, but to finally get something that I should have comprehended years ago. I need an alternative sort of professor, because on my own, just looking at the formulas make me dizzy, but I really want to learn it!

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Also, look for an alternative kind of teacher. I hope I make sense, find a teacher or tutor in an alternate math like physics.

That's a good thought, but my concern - and it is obvious from many of these posts - is that the OP doesn't have basic arithmetic skills, such as fractions, percentages, number systems, or times tables.

From that foundation deeper knowledge can come.

:)

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That's a good thought, but my concern - and it is obvious from many of these posts - is that the OP doesn't have basic arithmetic skills, such as fractions, percentages, number systems, or times tables.

From that foundation deeper knowledge can come.

:)

I know someone was talking about social promotion but can you really make it through high school, and into college with out the basic math?

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I know someone was talking about social promotion but can you really make it through high school, and into college with out the basic math?

Several people were talking about it and yes, you can.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
I know someone was talking about social promotion but can you really make it through high school, and into college with out the basic math?
As I have mentioned previously, I have 4 years of college-prep algebra on my high school transcripts. I also took prealgebra in 7th grade and Algebra I while in 8th grade. During my 12 years in public schools, I never learned the basic rules of integers, how to convert an improper fraction into a mixed number, how to multiply decimals, or how to figure out percentages. I made it through 4 years of high-school algebra without the basic arithmetic skills because I was socially promoted through the system.

Additionally, I never even learned to solve for X or balance a simple equation during my years spent in high school algebra classes.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
I know someone was talking about social promotion but can you really make it through high school, and into college with out the basic math?

Yes, I can attest to it, because it happened to me. Now, I can say that obviously, I made it through, but, I had to have a great deal of help. It doesn't always come automatically. I understand fractions, decimals, addition, subtraction, etc, however, simple algebra is still at a loss for me. And, to be honest, I have to use a calculator for mutiplication, fractions and decimals, or I am a disaster.

I was very fortunate to not had been in the nursing programs that required a timed calculation test each semester without a calculator, because I would have been dead. My mind still gets sort of scrambled when I have to do it independently and within a short time puts too much pressure on me and I lose it. It took a great deal for me to get where I am at this moment because of the lack of patient or innovative teachers to bring it to me where it made sense.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
As I have mentioned previously, I have 4 years of college-prep algebra on my high school transcripts. I also took prealgebra in 7th grade and Algebra I while in 8th grade. During my 12 years in public schools, I never learned the basic rules of integers, how to convert an improper fraction into a mixed number, how to multiply decimals, or how to figure out percentages. I made it through 4 years of high-school algebra without the basic arithmetic skills because I was socially promoted through the system.

Additionally, I never even learned to solve for X or balance a simple equation during my years spent in high school algebra classes.

:yeah::bow:Thank you for singing my song...it is the same for me. Didn't really figure out how to do percentages until I took a continuing education beginner's math class, and totally forgot how to convert an improper fraction. And, don't even speak about finding a common denominator...before adding, subtracting and whatever...

Integers...totally forgot that too, until you just brought it up. Each time I go to the floors to work per diem, I make sure I don't leave without a calculator. Nursing math is much easier, so to speak, but I still cannot just think up the answers to IV drips in a flash. I have to imagine the set up, put it on paper and then use my calculator to figure it out. I do fine with that, because I have to be alone, out of embarassment of people seeing me get a bit nervous.

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pagandeva2000, what a wonderful teacher and success story. thank you for sharing.

"i had tears in my eyes, because that instructor gave me a chance! i went back to that school to find him and say a hearfelt thank you, but he was no longer working there...but i am a nurse. if it were not for him, i wouldn't be where i am today."

i hope someday you can tell him what a difference he made in your life. can you imagine the boost that would give someone.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

I think of him often and wish him well. I am sure he opened the gates for many others to have the chance of their dreams.

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