what level of math did you take at high school or college

[jasoncran]

but OH how i wish i had other artistic ability!! people who can draw things in detail and paint and so forth fascinate me. i suppose i could learn, but it DOES NOT come naturally! although i've painted a thing or two that wasn't bad before.

i used to do photography ere the digital cameras.

 

[Caroline H]

I've been avoiding this thread, and I don't even know why I'm posting in it except that maybe you guys mentioned art. I can draw, I cannot do math will not do math do not like math cannot stand math won't even discuss math. This thread makes me anxious and queasy :bigsneeze

 

[tim-from-pa]

I LOVE theoretical mathematics.

Not so fast--- that's my kind of woman (my wife is good with math, too). Unbeknownst to many, the bible is replete with mathematics. For all mathematicians out there: Let's all calculate Solomon's laver and you can then see why the 18" cubit and 5.6 gallon bath was not used.

I have enough credits in math, the calculuses, differential equations, stat, etc etc to qualify for a minor in math; my actual major is the technical field, but I love math as well.

My favorite is spherical trigonometry. That's because one day about 30 year ago, I discovered I had to convert a star's declination and Right Ascension to local altitude and azimuth. So, I thought out 3-D models and triangles and all sorts of weird trigonometric stuff and came up with formulas.

Little did I realize, until a fellow math student told me, that I was using a form of spherical trigonometry that I "reinvented" (or, should say, rediscovered). I did not even know of it's existence then because that subject has fallen by the wayside in favor of vectors and linear algebra (even a math teacher friend said she never had a formal course on the subject). But is was once a big thing in astronomy and navigation before satellites and GPS's when man used to navigate by compasses and sextants 100 years ago. BTW, I have a sextant as well. I like that old math just as I LOVE old clocks, sundials and globes. (Using Kepler's Law and Spherical trig, I can do other simple astronomical tasks such as calculate the "equation of time" for a sundial)

 

[jasoncran]

I've been avoiding this thread, and I don't even know why I'm posting in it except that maybe you guys mentioned art. I can draw, I cannot do math will not do math do not like math cannot stand math won't even discuss math. This thread makes me anxious and queasy :bigsneeze

i did, most persons who are artistic cant stand math. how does one do biology without chemistry, and chemistry without math?

 

[jasoncran]

i forget keplers law(that is used in chemistry) and also alot of trig.

if you really want to put the young un in place do logs by hand or use the slide rule

 

[Caroline H]

I've been avoiding this thread, and I don't even know why I'm posting in it except that maybe you guys mentioned art. I can draw, I cannot do math will not do math do not like math cannot stand math won't even discuss math. This thread makes me anxious and queasy :bigsneeze

i did, most persons who are artistic cant stand math. how does one do biology without chemistry, and chemistry without math?

That's probably one of the reasons I'm not a biology major...

 

[tim-from-pa]

i forget keplers law(that is used in chemistry) and also alot of trig.

if you really want to put the young un in place do logs by hand or use the slide rule

Kepler's Law has to do with planetary motion.

I'm old enough that I used slide rules. When I was in High School, calculators were just making their debut, and even at that, only for the rich kids. It's generation x and later that used calculators and don't remember using anything but them. I have a good metallic Pickett log-log slide rule yet, and a few plastic ones floating around as well.

 

[jasoncran]

i am an early genx and can do simple math in my head. but lets be real, we as society always want these engineers to build fast, we went to the moon with cads(btw thats how the apollo 11 made it back they simulated the malfunction and double checked with the model built)

i do agree that we need to look back at how the old way of doing these feats work, but lets face it we cant fly some things without a computer(the f-16) is so reliant on its three computers that if one or more fails, it wont fly.

 

[Mike]

The thing about math outside of theoretical math, it's like our God and His Creation, there are absolute truths in math. You can trace your steps backwards to see if your calculations are correct! There's one way to arrive at an answer, and if you miscalculate or leave a step out, the rest of the process gets thrown off further and further. I'm by no means a math genius like those MIT students or "Will Hunting". Those guys are wired much differently than I am. Some classes were challenging along the way to a Bachelors degree, but after working through difficult areas, they made sense. I wouldn't know about the masters level or PHD level course work.

In its true essence, math is absolutely beautiful. It is sort of like art to me. The symmetry is awesome!

 

[jasoncran]

The thing about math outside of theoretical math, it's like our God and His Creation, there are absolute truths in math. You can trace your steps backwards to see if your calculations are correct! There's one way to arrive at an answer, and if you miscalculate or leave a step out, the rest of the process gets thrown off further and further. I'm by no means a math genius like those MIT students or "Will Hunting". Those guys are wired much differently than I am. Some classes were challenging along the way to a Bachelors degree, but after working through difficult areas, they made sense. I wouldn't know about the masters level or PHD level course work.

In its true essence, math is absolutely beautiful. It is sort of like art to me. The symmetry is awesome!

yes, these absolutes must be in order for math to work. ie the quadratic formula, the fundamental theorems of algebra and calculus, the trig functions and so on.

and my favorite e=3.71... that is a natural number found in nature and in accounting, its a just like pie it never ends and never repeats.

 

[Veritas]

I hated math in High School. Loved art, so I focused on that. But in college I took a Physics course and the calculus clicked. Finished an engineering degree. Now I'm a geophysicist by profession and having fun with the equations in graduate school. Still paint though

I'm telling you, they need to teach math differently. Slower, and with more of a historical perspective. It's very interesting when you see what problem each theorist was trying to solve when they were applying the math. Physics gives you a bit of a chance to see that.

 

[jasoncran]

yes, that would make it more interesting instead of here do it because we say so.

 

[stovebolts]

Mike,
should have just given the gal $11 Sad though, isn't it?

My favorite was applied Trig in my college Sheetmetal class. I really had a lot of fun with it, mostly because we got to make what we calculated.

 

[Jon-Marc]

I managed a C+ in Algebra. So I know I couldn't have done anything more complicated.

 

[Lance_Iguana]

I made it to Trigonometry. Its been awhile so I'm pretty rusty. As soon as I get a chance I'm taking Calculus. I don't need it for my degree, but the gears up there need to turn or they'll rust and fall out.


Took trig after physics though. So I passed the class and even debated thermos with my professor.

 

[Lance_Iguana]

yes, that would make it more interesting instead of here do it because we say so.

" I'd rather die then pass through this cursed field of beans!" You know what math genius said that Jay jay?

 

[logical bob]

Hey Mike, we do have something in common after all. My degree was pure maths with philosophy. I've forgotten most of the details and I'd fail all my finals papers completely if you gave them to me now but I totally agree with you about the beauty of the subject and I've found it a mindset that's stayed with me ever since.

I'd encourage anyone who wants a mental workout to read about Cantor and why not all infinities are the same size. The great thing about it is that you don't need any background mathematical knowledge.

 

[Mike]

Hey Mike, we do have something in common after all. My degree was pure maths with philosophy. I've forgotten most of the details and I'd fail all my finals papers completely if you gave them to me now but I totally agree with you about the beauty of the subject and I've found it a mindset that's stayed with me ever since.

I'd encourage anyone who wants a mental workout to read about Cantor and why not all infinities are the same size. The great thing about it is that you don't need any background mathematical knowledge.

Wow! Well, we had to find something somewhere along the line. But, math and philosophy? Kind of both ends of the spectrum. Even with my son's pre-calc, I have to spend a good while coming up to speed on a section after 20-some years away from the books. He doesn't understand why I can't jump right in and explain it. I love the "logic" of math! I loved and still do taking a problem that doesn't come easy and working my way to understanding it. Looking back through the steps of a problem and seeing it unfold is pretty awesome.

 

[jasoncran]

the terms change ie the instead of delta they use the word deritave.