• SteveRoy
    +5

    This is the primary argument I've heard for keeping it. "It teaches you how to think." So the benefit isn't in the algebra itself, but as a tool to learn something else.

    For several years now I've come to realise that programing does this same thing, even more effectively. Abstract, procedural thinking. Applied logic. Breaking down real problems into a procedure that can be applied repeatedly, to handle all the variable possibilities.

    I had a very difficult time with algebra the first time around in high school. After teaching myself web development and programing, the second time I had to learn it for collage prerequisites I marveled at how simple and easy it all was.

    So I wouldn't call algebra unnecessary, but it is replaceable with a modern tool for abstract thinking.