The post "What Does Pi Mean To You?" got me to thinking about my gawd-awful High School days. I'm curious. How many here was forced to learn Algebra, Trig, Calculus, etc., to get a HS diploma....and actually found a use for this stuff in their job or homelife?
I have. I had trouble understanding it in high school, although I managed to get Bs in algebra. More than a dozen years later, when I was teaching drug calculations to my paramedic students, I realized that the math involved could be more easily solved through algebra. As a paramedic, however, although we needed to be able to solve drug calculation problems in order to be licensed or to renew our licenses, there were few calculations involved, as our protocols solved the problems for us. As for trigonometry, it wasn't required and I bailed out of that class after a few days so I have had no experience with it, and never tool calculus.
Algebra and Trigonometry have every day applications (Did anyone ever do a 3-4-5 calculation to square a foundation or calculate the height of a tree they were felling to see how much room you need?). I have constant arguments with my engineer son that Calculus has no every day application, not that you don't do things that others have used Calculus to make, but the consumer doesn't need Calculus.
@Neville Telen I surely did. Used an Engineering Degree as basis to teach high school math WITHOUT a teaching certificate! The state called out the requirement that I take 15 hrs. of teachers ed., but I didn't, the district hired me, then asked for a secondv year, which I turned down. Frank
@Don Alaska Calculus surely has everyday applications for those designing 3-dimensional volumes having curved surfaces, for example. A great variety of Engineering design problems involve Calculus, and where computer-simulation solves such a problem, SOME nerd had to write the program! Frank
Exactly my point. Someone has to use calculus, but almost everyone gets along fine without even having to integrate anything. Engineers use it, but for most of us, it was a course to eliminate a lot of people from going forward. Not something the "normal" person uses in everyday life.
I am all for it as you never know where your professional life would lead you. I ended up as a software programmer and wrote a lot of software requiring a good knowledge of Algebra and even Calculus. In school I thought I would never need to use it in real life. Boy was I wrong. Binary and hexadecimal numbers, three dimensional arrays, and lots more useless stuff I learned in school allowed me to advance in the IT field until I was a Corporate Information Officer running IT departments for an international company. The same applies to a lot of other stuff I learned. Why did I need to learn French and Spanish? I ended up traveling to 21 countries in my life and using these languages for business. Even Latin helped me figure out the meaning of words. History of the world enabled me to enjoy the countries I did business in plus understand the culture. I was in the class for gifted students so I was able to finish early and take elective course in my senior year or go to college. I wanted to stay with my friends and girlfriend so I stayed and took typing twice. People laughed at a guy taking typing but who was laughing when Personal computers came out and I was typing 70 WPM. Come to think of it, I have had a use for everything I learned in school, even Psychology which helped me become a better Magician in my younger years and understand behavior better. Biology and Chemistry helps me take charge of my own health care and understand what doctors are saying. Physics has been very useful in several of my hobbies. Gym helped me when I entered the Army. Perhaps my class in Marriage and Relationships is why I am married for 46 years. Sex Ed; need I say more.
I hated it at school...could never understand it. My father used to get furious with me because I just couldn't get it to sink in...anyway..all that stress and I never need it in my working life at all....
I like math. I used a lot of math, mostly trig, during my career as a tool and die maker. I was one of the ones others came to when they had a problem figuring an angle. I took calculus in college and liked it but didn't have much use for it in my job.
High school algebra was a great frustration to me and to my teacher. I could read the equation and figure out the correct answer but I could not document the various steps that my mind went through to get the answer.
I got by on my Algebra and such classes in school, should have worked harder when I had the chance. Never really needed them till I started working in a Combat Engineering Squadon and we built airstrips and hardened shelters. When we reactivated Nocton Hall Hospital,UK for Desert Storm, I got to order concrete for a pad to place generators on. I grabbed my handy cardboard slide calculator and lined up the numbers, did some quick math, . and placed our order. As the trucks arrived, my lieutenant asked me if I had made the conversion from cubic yards to cubic meters that was used in the UK. Horror...I hadn't done this, so we were a tad bit short on material. ( 1 cubic yard = 0.764 cubic meter ) For years I carried one of these with me Now I just carry an 7" tablet in my cargo pocket with every HVAC, Electrical, etc. app I can download. Just too old to work out those formulas anymore.
@Sheldon Scott My Dad was a Tool & Die Maker, never went beyond 8th. grade, but attended Drafting Courses. He apprenticed his kid brother Jim, 10 years younger, and taught him the trade. My Uncle Jim graduated high school, and worked easily with Trigonometry. My Dad went to him when he needed calculations done involving angles! Say, you went to College, and became a Die Maker? Seems unusual. Frank EDIT: May have shown this before, not in Die Maker context: Piece saved sawn off the end of a 10-foot strip, the width being seen in the pic. Material nearly 1/4-inch thick, my Dad built the progressive die which blanked this out, landing mat for Tinian Island in the Pacific. They hooked thousands of pieces together on the sand, providing runway for the giant B-29 bombers. First pic, the smooth top-side, next the underside. The die set was hauled to the old Ford Plant which was shown in the movie "Tucker", where a large-enough puunch press was available to test the die. My Dad said the building shook!
Maths( we have an added S here)... particularly algebra and trigonometry ...and I hated Physics with a passion, I just couldn't understand it at all. The amazing thing is that since leaving school, I learned maths to a good standard once the pressure was off...