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Math problems are an interesting form of work for many people. They are used in accounting, finance, computer programming, medicine, and project management.
Project management can deal with very large schedules. People are used to seeing work schedules with a few people on a list that work at various times throughout the day. If someone is available, the manager can request they complete a task, unless they are busy; then the manager can look at the schedule and see if someone else is available during that shift.
A time schedule can be much bigger than this. It can involve commute time, breakfast cooked or picked up, time at the water cooler, searching for a co-worker, complaining about the computer, and finally getting work done before lunch for a lot of employers. This means the entire human activity in an area can be placed into a huge project management schedule for hundreds, thousands or even millions of people. The computer then analyzes all this and generates availability charts, estimates wait times, and creates traffice congestion schedules for people to view on internet connected devices.
On a smaller level, schedules can be more complicated than being available and getting work done. An entry level time schedule might include estimates for how time is spent throughout the week.
This is 15 to 18.5 hours per day and does not include work, school, commute or other items that require a schedule. Food purchases, bills, laundry, shopping, dry cleaning, hair cuts, and hanging out with friends or family.
One recent proposal for work requirements in the USA 6 hours, 3 times a week. Preferably remote, work from home and office visits as needed. Another was 15 to 25 hours for workers and up to 32 hours for managers who will work in a management group and have no more than 24 hours per week at the office.
These proposals don't make sense to a lot of people but it is likely the way humans lived for thousands of years before the industrial revolution.
With the world opting for decaffeinated lifestyles, going through technology detox and voting no on 24 hour businesses. These proposals are making more sense. Combined with automation, robotics, and professional compterization, it seems unprofessional to not consider it.
Over 40% of work was automated in the U.S. before the recession and labor jobs were already starting designs on robotics and strength assistance prosthetics.
This leaves lots to think about with the future of developed nations. How will a single person living in an apartment that requires a car pay all their bills with a 15 to 25 hour schedule? An employer with 20,000 workers averaging 22 to 24 hours per week might be able to figure out the correct math problem to answer this question.