Further to a discussion I'm having elsewhere
what maths did you learn in school that you have never had to use outside of an exam?
( Mrs Entity is in hiding., Thu 28 May 2009, 9:06, 61 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

Calculus.
Maths of the devil.
(porkylips looks better as the sun goes down., Thu 28 May 2009, 9:07, Reply)

Circular Functions
and Sine/Cosine/Tangent waves.
(Poppet some assembly required., Thu 28 May 2009, 9:09, Reply)

How to find out
how far a goat can roam when it is tied to a fence post in the corner of a field.
(Ethelred is watching cheese grow, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:12, Reply)

Differentiation and integration
All I remember is that you had to do DIDO (differentiate in, differentaite out). Which, of course, by the addition of one letter meant none of us remembered by reference to the singer.
(Psyche finishes work at the end of June! Yay!!!, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:12, Reply)

Maths rocks.
That is all.
(Eds Meds Mathskillz=1,Socialskillz=0, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:12, Reply)

Don't forget
to show your workings.
(Ethelred is watching cheese grow, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:13, Reply)

I never
Show my workings. They are very private things!
(Herr Doktor Lemminge Is bored, so cheer me up!, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:15, Reply)

Calculus
Is the one that springs to mind, but I'm sure there's more.

I've used most the other stuff I learnt in the Real World.
(Herr Doktor Lemminge Is bored, so cheer me up!, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:14, Reply)

Real world?
In the real world, you were borked purples.
(Ethelred is watching cheese grow, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:15, Reply)

Yes I was
And it didn't involve any maths.
(Herr Doktor Lemminge Is bored, so cheer me up!, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:19, Reply)

It was
a calculated effort.
(Ethelred is watching cheese grow, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:22, Reply)

*SPANG*

(Herr Doktor Lemminge Is bored, so cheer me up!, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:26, Reply)

I have a calculator on my phone
so really, short of the basics, pretty much everything I learnt in maths remains unused
( WormuIus, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:14, Reply)

I didn't learn any maths because I bunked off most of the lessons.
HATED MATHS WITH A PASSION THAT CANNOT BE EXPLAINED.
( girlinthehole, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:16, Reply)

most people say statistics
and regression particularly - whether ARCH, ARIMA, ARMA or the relatively simpler linear and logistic regressions.
(Eds Meds Mathskillz=1,Socialskillz=0, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:16, Reply)

All of it
/spreadsheet and calculator whore
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:17, Reply)

I did A level maths
and most of the time we didn't even use numbers thus making it all useless!!

I did draw a Venn diagram the other day though to show which of my collegues are annoying, have a face like a goose or are likable but still need a face hi five.
( TGB checking Off Topic is still shit at, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:19, Reply)

Thing is though, they're still at it. I had to sit GCSE maths in November last year
to get onto the course I'm doing. A lot of it was common sense and working out train timetables, temperatures and so on. But a fuckton of it was stuff that I've never used before and will never use again.
( fuck shit up the best you never had, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:24, Reply)

GCSE Maths
I have a friend who's going through the hell that is GCSE maths at the moment and who sent me a text message last week saying "what's the line of best fit"?

Part of me is uber-impressed that statistics is finding its way into the workings of GCSE maths. Another part of me, regrettably, is looking at something as esoteric as the line of best fit and spanging.
(Eds Meds Mathskillz=1,Socialskillz=0, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:32, Reply)

You sat GCSE Maths last year...
Are you some kind of mong?
( WormuIus, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:32, Reply)

I thought that was clear?
I failed it in high school, but my university let me in on the strength of my interview, so I didn't need to resit until I started a course that required maths, science and English at GCSE level.
( fuck shit up the best you never had, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:36, Reply)

mong

( WormuIus, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:40, Reply)

Level 4 mong I'll have you know you cad

( fuck shit up the best you never had, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:41, Reply)

Erm, pretty much none of it
/ParticlePhysicistBlog
(Shippy likes linebreaks and doesn't care what you think, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:33, Reply)

Thank you guys
There is stuff I teach that I know they will never have to use.

Lots of stuff is useful, like percentages and fractions, but some stuff, like the internal angles of a triangle adding up to 180º, I have never had to use.


*edit* out of interest this is the link to the maths test you have to pass to be a teacher.
www.tda.gov.uk/skillstestsonline/numeracy/launch.html
( Mrs Entity is in hiding., Thu 28 May 2009, 9:33, Reply)

That's the test I had to do
only to level 2 though, but I got level 4 somehow which is between a level and degree level maths.
( fuck shit up the best you never had, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:38, Reply)

FFS
Sorry to be negative MrsL but I just read through this test in a little detail and my goodness - some of those questions aren't maths, they're "Here's a graph, which statement is right?"

Jeez.
(Eds Meds Mathskillz=1,Socialskillz=0, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:48, Reply)

Well it is only
to teach primary maths.
( Mrs Entity is in hiding., Thu 28 May 2009, 13:01, Reply)

Algebra...
That is all
( bentalls In my head, I am a ninja, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:34, Reply)

Binomial expansion
Most other stuff has come in useful at some point, though 12 years on I feel I've forgotten more than ever learned :-(
(MrOli is ugly, but in the morning you will be sober, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:37, Reply)

Shocked to say it...
...but I am yet to find a use for the binary system.
(Tugnut Ex of this parish, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:42, Reply)

You are subconsciously using it now
and I don't mean the Matrix...
(Ethelred is watching cheese grow, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:44, Reply)

Hmmm
0110110001101001011000110110101100100000011011010111100100100000011011000110111101110110011001010010000001110000011101010110110101110000

www.roubaixinteractive.com/PlayGround/Binary_Conversion/Binary_To_Text.asp
(Tugnut Ex of this parish, Thu 28 May 2009, 11:47, Reply)

No way!
01000010011010010111010001100101001000000110110101100101
(MichaelS wasn't picked again, Thu 28 May 2009, 11:53, Reply)

Oh yeah?
0100100100100000011101110110100101101100011011000010000001100010011010010111010001100101001000000111100101101111011101010111001000100000011011010111010101101101001000000110100101101110011100110111010001100101011000010110010000101110
(Tugnut Ex of this parish, Thu 28 May 2009, 12:04, Reply)

What if we
tie all but two of your fingers together so you can try it out for the day?

If you like it, tomorrow we can chop them off :-)
(MrOli is ugly, but in the morning you will be sober, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:45, Reply)

No....
Unless I can have scissors for hands!
(Tugnut Ex of this parish, Thu 28 May 2009, 11:48, Reply)

I never thought I'd need to use Pythagoras and that shit
But it was needed to construct the playground we were building, as we had to do everything from scratch, all we had were some poles and nails and a couple of drunk locals to help dig holes for the fence poles.

(not a gap year, paid for this I did (just been reading the spoilt brat thread, don't want to be interpreted as so))

I don't really use my maths anywhere. I tend to avoid it - I usually add and subtract if anything, and that's shit we've been doing for EVER.

I did use simple algebra in a point-and-click game though.
( Lampito rise with the moon, go to bed with the sun, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:44, Reply)

as an engineer
I've used pretty much all the maths I learned in school. the maths I learned at uni however not so much.

matrix stiffness analysis is a horrible horrible thing.

gotta love finite difference and finite element though
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:45, Reply)

I've had
quite a few stereotypical blondes carry out stiffness analysis...
(Ethelred is watching cheese grow, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:47, Reply)

A record?
I actually have 5x Maths GCSEs :0)

I got 4x Grade D and finally managed to get a C!!!
( SpikeyPickle wishes he was mabazaritchie, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:45, Reply)

I thought you could only sit the exam 3 times before they declared you a mong
and walked you through the streets of Leicester whipping you as you trod barefoot in bat faeces?
( fuck shit up the best you never had, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:47, Reply)

Possibly
The 1st was in 1994 (secondary school), then 4 times at college over 3 years.

Perhaps I was a special exeption?
( SpikeyPickle wishes he was mabazaritchie, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:50, Reply)

Ahh, mine was 95 at school, then 08 at a learning centre full of foreigners

( fuck shit up the best you never had, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:52, Reply)

learning centre full of foreigners?
That describes most schools doesn't it?
(Ethelred is watching cheese grow, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:53, Reply)

It's a room full of computers with two tutors in it
affiliated to learn direct. It's on Great portland st.
( fuck shit up the best you never had, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:54, Reply)

Mummy was so proud when I finally passed
That she bought me CD (well, a tape)and some beer.

Nirvana - Incesticide, the beer was probably Boddies.

HOORAH FOR MY MUM!
( SpikeyPickle wishes he was mabazaritchie, Thu 28 May 2009, 10:03, Reply)

Well done
I celebrated by waiting til the next day and then getting rather wankered on my 30th birthday
( fuck shit up the best you never had, Thu 28 May 2009, 10:08, Reply)

It depends on what your own 'real world' is
As a physicist, I use (or at least did before I went towards materials science) quite a lot of maths.

Calculus is really quite useful. Honest, guv.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:50, Reply)

it's more useful
if you use something easier to approximate it

which is what engineering is all about!
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Thu 28 May 2009, 9:53, Reply)

One of the good things about science and engineering training
is the ability to estimate quantities with a decent degree of accuracy. You know intuitively your answer is in the right ballpark or not.

Unfortunately, one of my former students hadn't learned this skill, and had made the biggest error I've ever seen in an exam. His answer was wrong by 26 orders of magnitude! He'd made a mistake in the charge on the electron, and said it was 10⁷C instead of 1.6022 x 10^-19C, then used this in his subsequent calculations.

But he didn't notice that his answer was unfeasibly wrong.

To put the error into context, it's roughly the difference between the size of an atom and the size of the observable universe...
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Thu 28 May 2009, 10:14, Reply)

As a hydrogeologist I find math is a great tool to explain things.
While we will never really have enough data to fully describe/explain/characterize the real physical world (from a geologists point of view), calculus is a nice way to simplify the heterogeneities and allow an approximation of how things might be or might turn out to be depending on what action we take.
(MichaelS wasn't picked again, Thu 28 May 2009, 12:00, Reply)

As a model designer*, trainer** and builder***
I use maths all the time. Admittedly, a lot of mine is calculus and pure maths and I've not used a lot of solid or plane geometry in the last few years (but am doing some research at the moment for shits-n-giggles that needs a little plane geometry).

* I design the types of models that are used to decide whether or not you get a mortgage or a limit increase/decrease/cancellation of your credit card - both regression models and neural networks

** not lion taming, training of neural networks to ensure that they're producing the answer that'd be expected (normally by backpropogation)

*** SAS/S-Plus/R/MATLAB. Tools of champions.

:)
(Eds Meds Mathskillz=1,Socialskillz=0, Thu 28 May 2009, 10:00, Reply)

I
have to use pretty much everything I learnt in A-level maths day-to-day designing car transmission control algorithms.

Degree level maths though is a completely different kettle of fish - I'm convinced that some of the stuff has no real-world use whatsoever.
( rubberduck should only be used after consulting with your GP, Thu 28 May 2009, 10:05, Reply)

If you're doing
computational fluid dynamics when designing and exhaust or intake system for a car, for example, you'd use some pretty complex maths. Admittedly, nowadays it's all built into a computer model, but you still have to have a grasp of the maths to understand what changing each parameter actually does.

As I said above, it depends on which part of the real world you inhabit. A bloke sweeping the street wouldn't have to know a great deal of maths to get by in daily life.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Thu 28 May 2009, 10:17, Reply)

I agree about needing to understand the math
Even if the computer does the actual calculations, if you don't understand the math and how to use it, your model can look good but have absolutely no resemblance to reality and be totally useless.
(MichaelS wasn't picked again, Thu 28 May 2009, 12:03, Reply)

Fourier Analysis
Which is a little concerning, given that my PhD is supposed to be based on an application of this technique...

(I agree with the engineers on this thread, though: calculus definitely has its uses, by finite differencing makes life so much easier! If less accurate.)
(LongJohnBaldry, Thu 28 May 2009, 10:16, Reply)

long division
that is all
(bamboozled Can hear you getting fatter, Thu 28 May 2009, 10:19, Reply)

There were three blokes:
a mathematician, a physicist and an engineer, who were told that they were to stand at one end of a long corridor, with an attractive naked woman at the other end. The deal was that they could approach the woman by travelling towards her a distance of half their current distance from her, and repeating this each time. So if they started 12m away, the first leg would be 6m, then 3m and so on. Once they reached the woman, they could partake of whatever activities they felt like with this (apparently very accommodating) lady.

So the mathematician went first. He did a calculation and worked out a formula, then came to the conclusion that although he would approach the woman asymptotically, he'd never actually reach her. So on that basis, he decided it would be a waste of time to try.

The physicist took the mathematician's result, and decided to prove it by experiment. So off he went, marking points on a graph each time, and after a few iterations had decided that he had an accurate fit of experimental data to theory, and thus came to the same conclusion as the mathematician. He also decided it would be a waste of time.

The engineer's turn came. He did a quick calculation on the back of an envelope, then decided to go for it as he realised that within a few repetitions he'd be close enough for all practical purposes.



It's a pity I'm a physicist... :-(
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Thu 28 May 2009, 10:54, Reply)