That time you asked when will differential calculus and limits come in handy in real life?
- Thread starter PWMDMD
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Some days I wish I was back in college, the math was hard but it was enjoyable. 20 years later I'd have to learn it all over again. Not sure if I could again!
I remember arguing with my father once about algebra. He insisted he never used it. Yet he was perfectly capable of figuring basic equations, percentages and how to work backwards on a bill in case a line item was missing, etc. Not sure who won that argument, I was just a teenager after all.
I remember arguing with my father once about algebra. He insisted he never used it. Yet he was perfectly capable of figuring basic equations, percentages and how to work backwards on a bill in case a line item was missing, etc. Not sure who won that argument, I was just a teenager after all.
JHZR2
Staff member
It took me until about halfway through sophomore year in college for the calc to really click in and register why it is so important to understand how the world really works...
I have used Calculus exactly 1 time in my professional career. And it was more of a proof of concept; I never used it in production.
For most people, personal finance would be a far more useful knowledge set than advanced mathematics.
I do ponder rates of acceleration and other concepts though...
Spackard is right.
For most people, personal finance would be a far more useful knowledge set than advanced mathematics.
I do ponder rates of acceleration and other concepts though...
Spackard is right.
Advanced mathematics trains your brain to get it tuned to the upmost performance. Use it or lose it. 
I think I just sidetracked that thread. It's an interesting discussion to say the least.
I’m really bad at math, but I’m also a machinist 
why do you need a diff-E-Q to answer this question? You just need to differentiate the equation that describes the motion.
Easy enough, except that if you do, the OP will refuse to accept the mathematical result...
He’s got issues with infinite, or zero for that matter.
I think that was about when I figured it out too. A prof (actually a lecturer) explained what was going on with integrals and derivatives. Somehow one or 2 semesters of calc hadn't gotten that basic concept into my head--not sure if that was the teachers fault or not (math teachers might have gotten the worst complaints in college). Once he explained that, suddenly it all made sense.
Not that I did any better with the math, my grades were still miserable in calc, but at least I understood the fundamentals.
Advanced mathematics trains your brain to get it tuned to the upmost performance. Use it or lose it.
I have lost it. My daughter can out math me. And she failed high school math but somehow has bloomed later in life and is now a math whiz. She subtlety fired me as her math tutor once she got to calculus. I was a math major in college.
But only for a "limited" amount of time
If you're travelling down the road at 60 MPH your tires are "momentarily" stopped as they contact the road then rapidly accelerate to 120 MPH at TDC .....
Having dyscalculia, pondering such concepts never enters my mind...I am unable to compute.
Once after college for a human powered vehicle. ONCE! Good thing I had all that math in engineering school....
Everyone of us, in one form or another, use differential calculus. Or the results of it.
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