CONWAY, Ark. — With its intricate mysteries of quadratics, logarithms and imaginary numbers, Algebra II often provokes a lament from high schoolers. What exactly does this have to do with real life?

I got an A in algebra II, I think. That was long ago. I do know that I have long since forgotten whatever I learned in that course and have never used it since. That has become a national problem.

With its intricate mysteries of quadratics, logarithms and imaginary numbers, Algebra II often provokes a lament from high-schoolers. What exactly does this have to do with real life? The answer: ...