Can Math Save the World?

Did you know that the math you’re learning today could one day be used to help solve some of the world’s major issues? It’s true! Around the globe, mathematicians and scientists are using math to make the world a better place.

Did you know that the math you’re learning today could one day be used to help solve some of the world’s major issues? It’s true! Around the globe, mathematicians and scientists are using math to make the world a better place. 

Wildfires are one of these issues. They spread fast. So people need to act fast too. In 2018, more than 150,000 acres of land burned in and around Paradise, California. To make sense of the damage, officials turned to Gregory Crutsinger. He programs and flies drones, or small, unmanned aircraft.

 “I love flying drones,” he says. “But you need to have basic math skills in order to do the job effectively.”

Crutsinger arrived in Paradise a few days after the wildfire began. He programmed 15 drones to fly above the wildfire. They took more than 70,000 photos, which Crutsinger used to create maps of the affected areas. Officials used the maps to assess the damage and plan for recovery.

Organizing the drones took a lot of problem solving. But Crutsinger is glad he could help. “A lot of people really care about their community,” he says.

Read on to learn more about some other people working to make the world a better place—with math!

Wildfires spread fast. So people need to act fast too. In 2018, there was a huge wildfire in Paradise, California. More than 150,000 acres of land were damaged. To make sense of the damage, officials turned to Gregory Crutsinger. He programs and flies drones. They are small, unmanned aircraft.

“I love flying drones,” Crutsinger says. “But you need to have basic math skills so you can do the job effectively.”

Crutsinger arrived in Paradise a few days after the wildfire began. He programmed 15 drones. They flew above the wildfire. They took more than 70,000 photos. Crutsinger used the photos to create maps of the affected areas. Officials used the maps to observe the damage. They also used them to plan for recovery.

Organizing the drones took a lot of problem solving. But Crutsinger is glad he could help. “A lot of people really care about their community,” he says.

Read on to learn more. You’ll meet some other people working to make the world a better place—with math!

Billions of people eat seafood as part of their diet. But there are only so many fish in the sea. So to keep fish populations healthy, some governments have created marine protected areas where fishing is either limited or not allowed.

But can marine protected areas help the fishing industry too? Patrick De Leenheer wanted to know. He is a mathematician at Oregon State University. He came up with a complex math equation called a mathematical model. It’s designed to predict where to create a marine protected area so fish can get the most benefit while still allowing fishermen to catch them.

De Leenheer hopes that his work will eventually be used by lawmakers around the world.

“Mathematics is a powerful and precise language,” he says. “It can help us solve complex, real-world problems.”

Billions of people eat seafood. But there are only so many fish in the sea. To keep fish populations healthy, some governments have created marine protected areas. In those areas, fishing is either limited, or not allowed.

But can marine protected areas help the fishing industry too? Patrick De Leenheer wanted to know. He is a mathematician at Oregon State University. He came up with a complex math equation. It is called a mathematical model. It’s designed to make predictions.

The model predicts where to create a marine protected area. The goal is to help fish populations and fishermen too.

De Leenheer hopes that his work will eventually be used by lawmakers around the world.

“Mathematics is a powerful and precise language,” he says. “It can help us solve complex, real-world problems.”

Astronauts first visited the moon in 1969. Now, 50 years later, people are aiming to explore even farther. Scientists and mathematicians are developing rockets and spacecraft that can return to the moon and potentially visit other planets.

But spaceflight is complex and expensive. It takes almost 1 million pounds of fuel to get a rocket to the moon. That’s because a rocket’s engines need to create enough of a force called thrust to overcome Earth’s gravity.

Mathematicians and scientists are working on ways to reach the moon that use less fuel. This would help future missions be more cost-effective.

Astronauts first visited the moon in 1969. Now, 50 years later, people are aiming to explore even farther. Scientists and mathematicians are developing rockets and spacecraft. They can return to the moon. And they can potentially visit other planets.

But spaceflight is complex and expensive. It takes almost 1 million pounds of fuel to get a rocket to the moon. That’s because a rocket’s engines must create enough of a force called thrust. Thrust enables the rocket to overcome Earth’s gravity.

Mathematicians and scientists are working on ways to reach the moon using less fuel. This would help future missions be more cost-effective.

Worldwide, extreme weather is becoming more frequent and more severe.

Amber Emory has always been fascinated by extreme weather. She grew up watching storms at her grandparents’ lake house in upstate New York. Now, Emory is a meteorologist, or weather scientist, at NASA. She uses math to predict hurricanes. “Meteorology is applied math,” she says.

When a hurricane forms over the ocean, Emory’s team sends an unmanned aircraft. Its five scientific instruments collect information about
the storm.

Within 20 minutes, the data is sent to meteorologists. “We figure out where the hurricane will make landfall and how strong it will be,” she says.

Then the team communicates storm information to the public. “What drives me every day is making sure people are safe during a storm,” Emory says.

Worldwide, extreme weather is happening more often. And it’s also becoming more severe.

Amber Emory has always been fascinated by extreme weather. She grew up watching storms at her grandparents’ lake house. It was in upstate New York. Now Emory is a meteorologist. That is a weather scientist. She works at NASA. She uses math to predict hurricanes. “Meteorology is applied math,” she says.

When a hurricane forms over the ocean, Emory’s team sends up an unmanned aircraft. It has five scientific instruments. They collect information about the storm.

Within 20 minutes, the data is sent to meteorologists. “We figure out where the hurricane will make landfall. And we figure how strong it will be,” Emory says.

The team communicates storm information to the public. Emory says, “what drives me every day is making sure people are safe during a storm.”