Algebra represents some peoples' fondest memories of high school - and for others, it goes down in personal history as the one activity that tuned them out on math forever. But algebra offers instant help with an issue nearly everyone needs to think about - personal finances. For an example, let's use algebra to figure the age at which you should begin withdrawing Social Security.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, shipping, receiving and traffic clerks familiar with computers and other electronic and business equipment will find more ready employment due to an increase in the automation of the system.

Among publishers, advertisers, and other business folk, the idea that Americans hate numbers is almost proverbial. One publishing-industry dictum holds that each equation an author puts in a book's manuscript will cut that book's sales in half. Pundits decry slipping American math scores, suggesting that such math illiteracy may indicate threats to future American dominance in business and industry.

Most of the mathematical concepts we encounter every day - numbers, addition, subtraction - seem so basic, so hard to avoid in discussing reality on even the most basic level, that it's hard to imagine someone having to sit down and invent them.

It's tough being a TV character. Whether you're a crime-solving supersleuth or a wacky next door neighbor, the pressures are intense - villains that refuse to be caught, friends who don't share your enthusiasm for celebrating Festivus.

Cigar smoking enjoyed an abrupt, and steep, spike in popularity during the 1990s, after years of decline. Cigar bars and shops sprang up even in midsize towns and cities, while profits experienced heady growth.

In southern Ontario, Great Northern Hydroponics, a 50-acre tomato greenhouse, is producing more than just delicious tomatoes. The $20 million facility is leading the greenhouse industry by identifying and investing in innovative technology that benefits the environment with the construction of a Tri-Generation Energy Facility.

The reasoning is simple: If employees have access to a good, useable tool, they will use it, preventing potential injury and product damage. In all facets of today's workplace, the safety knife is making its presence - and use - known.

For those seeking algebra help, topics may include basic math help of learning the number line; concepts of sets on a number line; integers; fractions; decimals; percentages; coordinate plane algebra; linear functions; quadratic functions; polynomial functions [monomial; binomial; trinomial; etc] and the like.

Even with improvements in packaging, shipping practices, warehouse design, and software, cutting the cost of unsaleable products is the constant challenge for those in the grocery industry.