# Does business... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 14, 1999, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-business/1955 "1999-07-14T02:12:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 1999, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-business/1955/1 "1999-07-14T02:12:00Z")
Does the business world necessarily have to be alot of math? I mean unless you consider finance, accounting, or a stock broker? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 1999, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-business/1955/2 "1999-07-14T02:37:00Z")
Jeez, man – first reading, now math. What else are you gonna try to get out of? 🙂 Does it **need** math? No. In fact, I know plenty of lawyers who are “successful” in business and are absolutely horrible at math. One told me that she became a lawyer _because_ she couldn’t do math. Another told me she was fine in math 'til college algebra (I didn’t tell her that I took college algebra early in high school 😉 ) and that she got a ‘C’ in her college physics-for-poets class. But these are lawyers specifically. Other areas of business may need math. I once worked in a warehouse where the foreman was horrible at math. He was replaced (and he was the nephew of one of the owners!). So once you throw out finance, accounting, brokering, etc., what part of the business world are you looking at? You gonna be the manager from Dilbert? 🙂 P.S. You might want to include a little more detail in your subject line next time you start a thread – this one pretty much said nothing about what you were talking about. * * * “A woman came up to me and said ‘I’d like to poison your mind with wrong ideas that appeal to you though I am not unkind’” – They Might Be Giants, “Whistling in the Dark” ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 1999, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-business/1955/3 "1999-07-14T08:18:00Z")
I don’t think stock brokers use much math–unless you consider buy low, sell high math. Then again, I bet they are quick at figuring out their commision. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 1999, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-business/1955/4 "1999-07-14T12:24:00Z")
Architects, and building management professionals use math to find square footage and area. Engineers need math to figure out stress, load factors, and other design criteria. Salespeople need math to figure out how much money they make from bonuses. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 1999, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-business/1955/5 "1999-07-14T14:00:00Z")
Adding to Guy’s list, most managers need some arithmetic when it comes to budget time, frinstance. Do you need calculus or advanced multi-dimensional vector analysis? Probably not. Do you need arithmetic and basic statistics? Almost certainly. Even within the medical profession, you need to understand the statistics behind various treatment (success rate, side-effect rates, etc). And trial lawyers are constantly being faced with statistical evidence – there’s a 97% chance of this blood being a match, what does that mean? My suggestions: learn the arithmetic and get some exposure to statistics/probability. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 1999, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-business/1955/6 "1999-07-14T14:50:00Z")
This question needs to be rephrased. If the question is “Do you need math to get by in business?”, the answer is no. You can fake it, or pass it on to an assistant or outside vendor. If the question is “Do you need math to excel in business?” then the answer is yes, most definitely. The more skills you have in the business world, the better you’ll do.