I used math when I took a road trip from Lincoln, Nebraska to Portland, Oregon.  On this trip math actually came into play in several different ways.  First off, I was traveling on limited funds so I needed to budget the trip.  That meant calculating in the cost of gas, lodging and food, and making sure that I made the right decisions so that I would still have enough to live off of for a month in the city of Portland.   I used algebra in calculating the cost of gas, because I had to use multiple variables.  One variable was the rate at which my car burns gas on the interstate. Another was the rate at which my car burns gas in town.  Another thing that came into play was the fact that I drive a stick shift and not an automatic, so I was primarily in control of how efficient my gas mileage was.   There was a time towards the beginning of the trip where I was in a situation where I was forced to use math very quickly, and this may have saved my life.  I was driving through the panhandle of Nebraska, and had gotten lost on a backcountry road in the Nebraska National Forrest.   I was watching the sky, when it suddenly became dark.  In panic I turned on my weather radio, only to find that I was in a red zone for tornadoes that were moving at 40 miles per hour.  Looking at the mile markers along the dirt road I was driving down, and calculating, based on how far I had gone, how soon I would reach my campsite, I had to make the decision as to whether I had a better chance of avoiding the tornado by pulling over and waiting it out, or by driving faster and trying to reach the ranger station, where I knew there would be shelter.  Reaching the conclusion, through using math, I decided to continue driving, and I reached the station in time.