Do you use math in your job?

[Tomale]

I'm a math teacher and I want kids to know that math is not useless.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you do, please share your experience by filling a small form. It is an index of jobs and what type of math each requires.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.xpmath.com/careers/incomplete.php

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is not a referral link.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks a lot.

[gonpost]

Welcome to the forum. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh yes, math is certainly very useful...as for myself, I plan on being an engineer when I'm older, I'll certainly be using math quite a bit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even if most kids wonder why they learn it, many will realize how important it is by the latter years of high school. At least that's what I've noticed.

[Zerocool11]

It definitely depends on the level of math. I don't think a single day goes by where we don't use math in some form or another. It just might not necessarily be calculus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm very happy that I don't have to take math this year. Just not quite my cup of tea.

[MyPurpleCrayon]

Welcome! :P

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And I know Math is useful, but not all Math.

 

 

 

Some is so ridiculous, and the only time you will use it, is in Math Class.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will never HAVE to work out a problem... if I know the Effing formula, and I will NOT need to show my work. :D :?

[indy500fan]

my full time job is working in a grave yard, so it is mostly manual work. we do have to use basic math skills i guess, measuring and multiplying and stuff to get the grave in the right spot in the newer fields. i pulled a good old a^2+b^2=c^2 the other day, boss didnt believe it would work out, but obviously it did :o .

 

 

 

my first part time job is working in a pizza place as a cook. do a lot of counting there, which i guess you can call adding if you want. do a lot of basic math there, multiplying and dividing and stuff when ordering/recieving the bulk food.

 

 

 

my second part time job (which, sadly enough, i think is basically over, no time to do it), is a TON of basic math. constantly counting out pieces, multiplying stacks, adding, counting boxes, counting totals, and best of all figuring out the payout :D . when you do the same thing over all day (open dvd case, insert dvd, close dvd case x5000) you are constantly figuring out the payout. "got 1000 done, that means $50".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

so all in all, i do basic math a lot. i do it a lot when i dont need to, because i like math. whether or not that helps you, i dont know.

[weezcake]

I don't think I'll need much math for a biotech job. I'll need some basic-ish math (algebra, statistics) but I don't think I'll ever need calculus. I love how I only need 2 qtrs of calc and 1 qtr of stats for my major :)

[____]

It doesn't get more complicated than multiplications and the odd bit of discount (see multiplication again) :P Love retail sometimes.

[xxsheepxx]

well duh, because im a high school student. hahaha. math is my least favorite subject though, mainly because the teacher's boring.

[DragonFirenze]

Not all maths is useless, but the majority is. To me, maths is just a test of how you can use given information to solve a problem. It helps in later life, sure.

[ForsakenMage]

Well my major does require a lot of math since I'm doing management. :oops: This means I have to worry about statistics, probability, formulas for accounting, etc. :shock:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Used to teach dance, so there was quite a bit of choreography work to be done (how many steps should be taken in that block of time, how to divide up the sections so that the dance is cohesive with each scene, etc.). :?

[DragonFirenze]

Ive noticed that lots of peoples careers only require basic maths, can anyone find me an example that requires trigenometry, lotus and the parabola, calculus, quadtratic and trinomials etc? Other than quantum physics or anything. Or maths teacher..

[Anesthesia]

In my AI module right now there's a lot of probability work.

[Mercifull]

My job isnt in that list but i use a lot of it with what i do. Most of it is quite basic with averages and frequencies mainly but we do the odd bit of manipulation of numbers and more advanced stuff in research.

[dwarfie76]

Ive noticed that lots of peoples careers only require basic maths, can anyone find me an example that requires trigenometry, lotus and the parabola, calculus, quadtratic and trinomials etc? Other than quantum physics or anything. Or maths teacher..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Computer programmer here, have used all of the above in the past twelve months.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They're not things I use all day every day, most programming doesn't really go beyond basic arithmetic, but when I need to work out how to render a 3D pie chart based on a set of percentages I'm pretty glad I took maths up to 2nd year Engineering level.

[hellsurfer]

my job aint there and iv used alot of that stuff, quantity surveyor

 

 

 

and also surveyors in general, we earn the big bucks and make all u ppl have homes and offices to go to :D

[Pete_the_Viscous]

I think of it like this: having taken a little bit of Maths, I can now see new situations in which it might be useful. Beforehand, I wouldn't have even known that the answer could be worked out -- that, or I would have thought "oh, this is going to be easy" then come to a grinding halt when I realised that I had no idea what to do. I really do get a lot more out of things now that I have some basic Maths knowledge -- things that I couldn't have appreciated without it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'd warn that to do any (proper) computing you need a bit of Maths. I'd also say that employers are going to prefer someone with Maths qualifications over someone without, regardless of job (unless of course it makes them overqualified -- but let's not go into that).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A lot of friends at college who don't do any Maths look at my work if I'm doing homework and say things to the effect of "You see, that's why I didn't take Maths". What they don't realise is that, had they taken Maths, those things wouldn't appear very complicated.

[Bubsa]

I'll tell ya...so long as you don't censor this site on your school network :P

[db26]

Computer programmer here, have used all of the above in the past twelve months.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They're not things I use all day every day, most programming doesn't really go beyond basic arithmetic, but when I need to work out how to render a 3D pie chart based on a set of percentages I'm pretty glad I took maths up to 2nd year Engineering level.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even if what the only actual math that you are including in your code is simple arithmetic, computer science is basically the application of math. I always feel that to do any programming you need to have a good concept of math and logic. You may not be using complicated formulas and equations, but it's still largely math-based.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, yeah, tell your students that if any of them wants to do anything with computers math is very important, even if you don't use the exact things you learned in school. It's more about the way that you think through problems.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Maybe my opinion is a bit biased because I LOVE math, but still...)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, while it's not as serious as the rest of this topic, you can suggest that they watch the TV show Numb3rs. It's a bit of an exaggeration of what is true for most people, but it's still interesting.

[dwarfie76]

Even if what the only actual math that you are including in your code is simple arithmetic, computer science is basically the application of math. I always feel that to do any programming you need to have a good concept of math and logic. You may not be using complicated formulas and equations, but it's still largely math-based.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Logic more so than maths. However it could be said that the two are very much intertwined. I spend most of my time these days designing distributed workflow applications which are more about following business processes than crunching data, but I've done my fair share of reporting engines and graphing applications where high level maths is a must. Math topics that are most used in the IT field would be things like set theory, boolean logic, algebra, statistics, combinatorics etc. However, when you get into things like writing the software for things like scientific instruments you can be faced with integral calculus, fourier transforms, polar/rectangular transforms and differential equations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Computer game programming is also pretty intensive on the number crunching. Especially for immersive 3d environments where real-world physics need to be modelled.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, yeah, tell your students that if any of them wants to do anything with computers math is very important, even if you don't use the exact things you learned in school. It's more about the way that you think through problems.

 

 

 

Very good advice. Programming suits people with a particular mindset. That mindset can be grown early on by tackling challenging maths problems because it works the same areas of the brain.

[Anesthesia]

So, yeah, tell your students that if any of them wants to do anything with computers math is very important, even if you don't use the exact things you learned in school. It's more about the way that you think through problems.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I disagree with the first part. It's what I was told at school and at 6th form, and I ignored it. I am now halfway through a computer science degree, having done computing A level as well (4 years teaching so far) and never had to use anything more than stuff you'd learn before the age of 12 (so far as I remember anyway).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was told that I wouldn't be able to get on a degree course without it, which was wrong. More than half the courses didn't require maths. My father was a programmer for around 12 years, then a systems analyst and now an accountant, having got the job with ZERO maths qualifications (granted, he did some evening classes in accountancy AFTER he got the job... How he got it is another story :P). The point is he didn't do maths before becoming a programmer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOWEVER...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I agree that it might help to hone a logical brain. My family all have good logical brains, we are all that way inclined so perhaps it wasn't necessary to do maths. It MIGHT help develop logic in someone who has problems with it, but it might also make them fail miserably if they can't do well enough.

[whoami]

I worked at a daycare during the summer, i taught the kids math, so yea there's math involved

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

i adore math <3 :shock:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EDIT: i want to be a mathematician when i grow up :P

[dwarfie76]

I worked at a daycare during the summer, i taught the kids math

 

 

 

Whoa... my kids only learn to fingerpaint at their daycare.

[MyPurpleCrayon]

 

So, yeah, tell your students that if any of them wants to do anything with computers math is very important, even if you don't use the exact things you learned in school. It's more about the way that you think through problems.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I disagree with the first part. It's what I was told at school and at 6th form, and I ignored it. I am now halfway through a computer science degree, having done computing A level as well (4 years teaching so far) and never had to use anything more than stuff you'd learn before the age of 12 (so far as I remember anyway).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was told that I wouldn't be able to get on a degree course without it, which was wrong. More than half the courses didn't require maths. My father was a programmer for around 12 years, then a systems analyst and now an accountant, having got the job with ZERO maths qualifications (granted, he did some evening classes in accountancy AFTER he got the job... How he got it is another story :P). The point is he didn't do maths before becoming a programmer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOWEVER...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I agree that it might help to hone a logical brain. My family all have good logical brains, we are all that way inclined so perhaps it wasn't necessary to do maths. It MIGHT help develop logic in someone who has problems with it, but it might also make them fail miserably if they can't do well enough.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But taking Math can't hurt you can it?

 

 

 

It can only make you smarter. :)

[weezcake]

Higher math confuses me. I can't figure out how to apply it to real life :wink:

[Anesthesia]

How can doing maths 'make you smarter'? It might increase your knowledge in that field, but it can't raise someone's intelligence. Also by choosing it as an option at any stage you are missing out on something else that may be more useful to you.