Having set out on her mathematical journey, Dawn suddenly remembered that she had forgotten to pack any sandwiches
There are many reasons why people study mathematics and they gain a range of different benefits from doing so. For some, it provides a means of achieving greater understanding and insight into the physical world around them. For others, it is the social world of people and their concerns that is most in focus and of greatest interest. For some, doing mathematics is about sharing in an age-old human activity. For others again, it is curiosity about the inner, individual worlds of imagination and possibility.
You, of course, will have your own interests and enthusiasms. As your mathematical thinking develops, both while you are studying this unit and afterwards, you will be able to bring your enhanced mathematical understanding and skill to bear on different aspects of your life.