Mathematics.

[snomaker321]

Im only a senior in high school now but im taking honors calc(basically college calc 1) and AP statistics. This goes along with my Physics II and AP Physics classes. yea, if you couldnt tell i plan on majoring in engineering, most like mechanical.

 

[Legend]

I'm an electronics engineer, so quite a bit of math was required for the degree. I got really interested in statistics and picked up a bunch of courses in that branch. Something approaching 300 college hours total - more math than anything else. But here was the surprise for me......

When I was a kid my parents made me take music lessons. Music was a complete mystery to me. Memorize a gazillion chords in a bazillion different keys, etc.,etc. Eventually they and I gave up. 20 years later I ran across an article in an IEEE journal on the mathematics of music. I read through that and thought - OH, this makes perfect sense! I understand. I can do this. So I bought an electronic organ to mess around with and discovered, sure enough I could play music. I've never had great ears and no particular musical skills, but I can listen to something and understand it. And play anything I want on a keyboard. Math rocks!

 

[colinrmitchell]

Quite a lot of interest this has had while I was gone!

I think Calc II is the real turning-point in mathematics. By that, I mean it really takes the dive from calculations to theory. Especially Taylor series. Those have SO MANY applications.

I see that there are a lot of engineers taking math courses. I am a mathematician but hoping to start a doctorate in "Mechanical Engineering Applied Mathematics" next fall.

Even as a mathematician, I too fall into the category of "I need to see a point of this." You should see me struggle through my analysis courses!

From what limited research I have done, I am thinking, for my doctoral thesis, of writing a model of how a tire deforms under initial load on a top-fuel dragster. It seems like such a topic has not been investigated (at least not rigorously) before.

 

[dennis461]

Simple math

3 Men Go Into A Motel.
The Man Behind The Desk Said The Room Is $30, So Each Man Paid $10 And Went To The Room.
A While Later The Man Behind The Desk Realized The Room Was Only $25, So He Sent The Bellboy To The 3 Guys' Room With $5.
On The Way The Bellboy Couldn't Figure Out How To Split $5 Evenly Between 3 Men, So He Gave Each Man A $1 And Kept The Other $2 For Himself.
This Meant That The 3 Men Each Paid $9 For The Room, Which Is A Total Of $27, Add The $2 That The Bellboy Kept = $29.

Where Is The Other Dollar?

 

[graff104]

the man behind the desk got the other dollar! i think... each man got one he is man so he got a dollar? right?

 

[themaxx69]

There is no other dollar. Can't think of the wording, but adding and subtracting at wrong times. You cant add what they paid and the diff from the refund to equal original amount.

 

[themaxx69]

That reminds me. I'm gonna say this because I know it should get a bunch of responses.

I also am very good with math. Always liked it and it always came very quickly. My best subject in high school. Only got as far as college algebra, but I know I will need a few more for my degree. What I remember most about college algebra was the radical equations and equations that have rational exponents. I think that's what they were. Really long square root things.

Anyways, to the question. I know almost everything we have in this world is because of math in some way. But, for 99% of people and for 99% of the time, I think most math used is basic math. Meaning + - * / and a few other things like % and d=rt, even those two I don't think most people remember.

I think almost every, if not every 4 year degree requires 1 or 2 classes above college algebra at least. So, whats the point of making people take those classes when the VAST majority will never use or remember 99% of it. And for all of you that have taken all those higher level math classes, unless you use it at you job all time, and honestly I can't think of very many jobs that would require all the knowledge in 1.5 - 2 full-time semesters of math.

 

[Ranger4657]

sence all of you are gatherd here, heres one you may or may not have seen.....

B4 i 4q ru/18 qt3.14

im almost in my engineering program (going for an electrical engineering deg.)
working on all the math and psyics before i go into the program. but i enjoy math allot, ive considered several times just being a math major (for some odd reaison i find calculus in general to be a beautiful subject) , but i do love me my electricity and the endless potential it has.....

 

[Beanmachine7000]

That reminds me. I'm gonna say this because I know it should get a bunch of responses.

I also am very good with math. Always liked it and it always came very quickly. My best subject in high school. Only got as far as college algebra, but I know I will need a few more for my degree. What I remember most about college algebra was the radical equations and equations that have rational exponents. I think that's what they were. Really long square root things.

Anyways, to the question. I know almost everything we have in this world is because of math in some way. But, for 99% of people and for 99% of the time, I think most math used is basic math. Meaning + - * / and a few other things like % and d=rt, even those two I don't think most people remember.

I think almost every, if not every 4 year degree requires 1 or 2 classes above college algebra at least. So, whats the point of making people take those classes when the VAST majority will never use or remember 99% of it. And for all of you that have taken all those higher level math classes, unless you use it at you job all time, and honestly I can't think of very many jobs that would require all the knowledge in 1.5 - 2 full-time semesters of math.

I thought this, until I recently started my upper division Geology courses... I use higher math every single day... I could see (esp if someone goes into the Geophysics side) how it could be used all the time...

 

[hoosier1104]

I want to build a nuke so I'm going in for some math courses to figure out how to split an atom...

Aside from that, things just don't add up for me...guess cause I'm divided by a multiple personality complex that the doctors can't find the square root of...so I'm still a big minus...but that doesn't subtract from my great personalities...my girlfriend has an algie bra for her small breasts, and my rooster, well, thinks he's a crow...

OK...actually...I've been reading up on Einstein and a few others so I'm interested in taking higher math...

That is the funniest damn thing I have read all day. Thanks for a good chuckle on a other wise boring day.

I am currently working on my BS in Communications Engineering. I am review college algebra and trig right now. I have stats and calc in the future though.

 

[colinrmitchell]

I was pretty heavily into electronics in high-school and early college. I would build audio power amplifiers out of discrete components, mostly just for fun, for a bass guitar I had at the time. I designed, hand-built and hand-soldered a 1000W amplifier that really blew the windows out with two 15" woofers. (Yes, it could run a 2ohms.)

Lots of systems of equations and computer models that I wrote, to analyze power in each device, and output power, before even building a prototype. I loved it.

I suppose now that I have studied a lot of higher-level mathematics, it's amazing how complicated even the seemingly most simple things can be. For example, a bead of water running down a slope, or a guy falling out of a plane and employing his parachute.

I have learned, and been told, that the study of mathematics is not purely for the sake of the mathematics, but the thought process, the reasoning, behind it is the key point.

A professor of mine said once, "you are not here solely to learn mathematics. You are here to learn to think." The logical reasoning used in mathematical study is paramount in the study of any other field. That's why, a lot of times, employers may be more likely to hire a mathematician for some job than maybe even a person specifically trained in that field (or so I am told).

Either way, I still love mathematics!

P.S.: If anyone has a mathematics-related problem, send it my way, I'd love to try to help out!

 

[colinrmitchell]

Okay guys, here's a math joke:

Two men are in a hot air balloon. They realize that the wind has taken them outside of their expected course of travel. They see a man running on a rural road underneath them. One of the men yells to the runner,

"Where are we?"

The runner returns, "You are in a hot-air balloon."

A man in the balloon replies, "You must be a mathematician."

The runner says, "how did you know?"

The man in the balloon states, "your answer was 100% correct, althought 100% useless!"

 

[Jay FX4]

Math liquefies my brain and makes it drain out of my ears. I loathe math.

 

[hoosier1104]

Do not blame me. I am a Mathlete not an Athlete. -- Beerfest

 

[graff104]

So anyone want to help me with this problem?
Find the maximum rate of change of f at the given point and the direction in which it occurs.
f(x, y) = 4 sin(xy), (6, 0)

the direction of the maximum rate of change should be a unit vector.
so i took the derivative with respect to X and then with respect to Y
<y4cos(xy),x4cos(xy)> then evaluated at (6,0)
<0,24> only thats not right... the 0 is right but the 24 is wrong... what did i screw up here?

I'm just not understanding all this stuff....