Throughout my education, math was never an area in which I excelled. While I understood the importance of math, I felt that classes such as geometry and algebra did not prepare me for the necessary calculations I would need throughout my life. Functions and Graphs was the first math class I have taken that applied formulas to real life scenarios and turned a foreign concept into a practical application for me. I chose to use this project as my artifact because it is a culmination of all the formulas we learned throughout the semester and uses these formulas to answer questions about retirement like how much to save, when to start saving, and at what interest rate. Thanks to this class, I have a better understanding of how money compounds annually, the reality of living after retirement, and most importantly, a savings plan set aside for college, a house, and retirement.