6 min read · Jul 22, 2019
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Intended publication would be on DVC Inquirer or newspaper, specifically for those who are Business major student.
It’s summer, and Mark has just graduated high school a few weeks ago. He will be attending Diablo Valley College upcoming Fall. In front of his laptop, logging into Insite, he is excited to register for the classes he wants to take. He chose Business Administration as his major, so he decides to try one of the finance classes. He is about to register for a financial accounting class, but then he realizes he is not really good at math. Mark turns away from it and he just decides to take Intro to Business.
Just like Mark, there are many students who choose Business Administration as their major at DVC. I, myself, am also majoring in Business. I have always been curious about what majors other students are studying. When I asked around the students and friends at DVC what their majors are, one out of third the students said they major in Business. Nonetheless, there are only few students who would take a Finance class. The biggest reason why they avoid taking it is that they are afraid of dealing with math. According to the GMA news, around 50 percent of students in the United States have math anxiety experience (Montenegro, 2015). And when people think of what Finance is, most of the time they think finance is related to Bank jobs or it is related money, so people automatically think Finance is hugely related to math. However, this is just a simple misperception that many students have in the finance study. It is true that knowing math is essential because finance actually is about studying the flow of money. However, that doesn’t mean you need a high level of mathematics skills like Calculus. It is understandable that students think they are going to need maths like Calculus or Statistics: As a DVC student who wishes to transfer to one of the Universities of California as a Business major, you are required take certain Statistic class, Calculus I, and Calculus II.
When students see these requirements, they will think ‘Just studying Business, in general, requires this level of math already? Then studying Finance must require even more difficult math!’. However, most of the finance fields, all you need to know is arithmetic and algebra. Quora is a website that multiple internet users use to ask and answer questions to each other in the form of opinions. At Quora, you can easily find many users asking questions related to Finance majors: What kind of math do you do in finance as finance major? Can I major in finance even though I am not great at math? such and such. And most of the users who answered to those questions replied that they didn’t have to deal with any math more than arithmetic, not even algebra. There may be some fields in finance that requires complex math, but it is all about understanding and remembering the formula and compute it through calculator or excel.
Since I also am majoring in finance at DVC and have taken a financial accounting class, I can witness that studying finance is not really about math, rather it is to have critical thinking skill and to be definite at recording things. Before I took the financial accounting class, I was very nervous, just like others, because I also am not good with math. When I actually took the class and started to learn, without any exaggeration, I only needed to know was how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide numbers throughout the whole semester. There was a chapter when algebra was needed, but it was not something I really have to solve it by myself mathematically. All I had to do was just put numbers in a formula on the excel.
Therefore, finance major is not centered around math. Actually, there are other skills that really counts and important in finance: interpersonal skills and analytic skills. When people think of finance job, we commonly imagine sitting on a desk and doing all the works by yourself. That is what might have been in the past decades, but nowadays, finance is about interacting and communicating with people. For example, as a financial analyst, the duty is to provide guidance to industries or individuals making investment decisions. In order to do so, the financial analyst first study business and economic trends related to the clients. And based on the knowledge, financial analyst evaluate and analyze the data and recommend the best and suitable decision for the client. As of interpersonal skill, one must have good communication skill, because you must meet with the company’s officials to gain a better insight of the company’s situations and prospects. After then, you meet with investors to convince through the recommendations and the reports you have prepared. Although involving math in the process of all this is inevitable, it definitely isn’t the key skill in the field of finance.
After all, arithmetic and algebra level of math is important at anywhere and anytime. Because arithmetic math is used all the time, people easily forget how often we use it. One obvious situation to use math is at the grocery store. Calculating price per unit or price per pounds, figuring percentage discounts, and estimating the final price, you are using math all the time. We use math when dividing bills with friends, checking bank account, or even playing simple card games. Basically, the level of math that would be needed in finance is nothing different from the level we use daily.
Because of the misperception, that one needs to be good at math to major in finance, many students don’t even attempt to take finance classes at DVC. It is shameful because there are so many fun and interesting materials to learn about and I am sure that whoever is interested in Business will also like the finance class. In real life, at Silicon Valley or Wall Street of New York, people don’t look for who has great math skills. They look for who truly has a passion and who can bring innovative changes to the company through leadership and analytic skills. From now on, I really hope there won’t be anymore student like Mark, who will step away from taking finance class because they think finance needs strong math skill.
Works Cited
“What kind of math do you do in finance as a finance major?” Quora 2015. https://www.quora.com/What-kind-of-math-do-you-do-in-finance-as-a-finance-major
Half, Robert. “Your Career in Finance — 10 Skills That Really Count” 9 August 2018. Web Access July 13, 2019. https://www.roberthalf.com/blog/salaries-and-skills/your-career-in-finance-10-skills-that-really-count
“10 Reasons why math is important in life” Pi Day. 8 May 2018. Web Access July 13, 2019. “10 Reasons why math is important in life” https://www.piday.org/10-reasons-why-math-is-important-in-life/
“Why is finance a hard major?” Quora 2018. https://www.quora.com/Why-is-finance-a-hard-major
