Math Blog: Wedding Math

Since I’ve been working on planning my wedding, I thought it might be fun to share a glimpse at how math applies in event planning. It truly is a tool we can use in various situations God places us in!

• Total Guest Count – One interesting aspect of event planning is figuring out how many people are coming…which involves addition in adding up all the friends and families being invited.
• Budgets – Trying to plan an event on a budget involves adding up all the expenses and subtracting that from the total you have to spend to see how much you have left to spend (or how much over budget you’ve gone…which could be represented with negative numbers). For example, if you’ve spent $25 + $500 + $120, then you’ve spent a total of $645. If your budget is $1,000, you have $1,000 – $645, or $355 left to spend.
• Total Cost of Items – Addition and multiplication are used extensively in figuring out how much you’re really spending on a specific aspect of the wedding. Take table centerpieces for example. Suppose your centerpiece consists of a $2 vase, a $1 candle, and a $1 a flower . It costs $2 + $1 + 1 = $4. If you have 25 tables to put centerpieces on, it will cost a total of $4 x 25, or $100. If you pay 5% (notice the percent!) sales tax on all of that, then the total cost will be $100 x 1.05 = $105.

As you teach math this week, remember to show your students why they’re learning the concepts they’re learning. Math is about much more than passing a test or solving meaningless problems—we want students to understand how to use this tool in their own life so they’ll be equipped for the various tasks God’s given them…and to do so while praising the great Creator whose faithfulness in holding all things together makes math possible in the first place.

Reminder: If you need ideas or help making math come alive, check out our math resources and curriculum.