Phydeaux
TUG Member
Where do you put yourself?
Where do you put yourself?
Hey, in math your right or your wrong. There is NOTHING subjective and can't bring personal bias into it. So I learned to love math more, plus math was easy until I went and got a University degree in it.
Respectfully, I am going to have to disagree with the statement about 'math' not being subjective (but understand what you mean...). I work with math all the time where results are not necessarily right or wrong, and decisions most often need to be made with imperfect information.
So, are we talking about math or about arithmetic? I can't really tell from the choices.
I'm an engineer, but rarely use anything beyond algebra and basic trig. I can figure out the sales tax on $4.19 or convert 72 degrees F to C in my head, which always amuses my family. But I'm certainly not "fond" of math, and found calculus difficult.
I was a math major also. BS Math. From a old college in the deep South. First college in that state.
It was as much of a technical degree a female could get back in the dark ages .... almost all Ivy League schools were male only. Engineering programs were at all male schools or very large state universities.
I did managed to do a year aboard at Rutgers University .. in computer science .. and used that course work, as my foreign language requirement at the university I graduated from with a BS.
I did say, it was in the dark ages. A time long, long ago.
So, are we talking about math or about arithmetic? I can't really tell from the choices.
I'm an engineer, but rarely use anything beyond algebra and basic trig. I can figure out the sales tax on $4.19 or convert 72 degrees F to C in my head, which always amuses my family. But I'm certainly not "fond" of math, and found calculus difficult.
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Awesome! My mom, too, was a math major and received a BS in Math.
I will agree to disagree. I think you are combining two things. Decision making and mathematical modeling. I too do modeling. In this case the ASSUMPTIONS made and factors chosen are subjective. However the MATHEMATICS in the calculations IS NOT subjective. The math is a formula. There is NO variation on the answer. There is variation on its meaning and impacts to a business, that is also subjective, but the calculation itself is NOT, It is just math. Just MHO.
You are confusing applying math outcomes with mathematical calculations. Different topics for me. I was referring to the fact that mathematical calculations are always the same answer.
Talent - I am unclear how you can use Excel (or a calculator for that matter) without understanding math...
Dad, I didn't know you were a Tugger! Kidding aside, my father, an aeronautical engineer, would tell me the same anectodotes (still does): "These kids come out of school only knowing how to punch data into a computer model and they don't even understand what the data going in or coming out is. They don't know what equations and calculations the software is performing, or why. And they consider themsleves engineers. They will come to me with an answer to a problem, and it will say that a fan blade on a turbine should be 2 feet thick and a mile long..."I agree completely. I used simulation almost continuously in my career in aircraft design and development. The equations are immutable but the assumptions used can be widely disparate and if one doesn't recognize that, one can have some really disastrous outcomes.
Several of my "interesting" discussions were with new engineers who came up with some pretty wild results. Their initial response usually was "That's what the Program result was when I ran it" when I questioned the result. The GIGO (Garbage in, Garbage out) syndrome at its best.
Cheers
Dad, I didn't know you were a Tugger! Kidding aside, my father, an aeronautical engineer, would tell me the same anectodotes (still does): "These kids come out of school only knowing how to punch data into a computer model and they don't even understand what the data going in or coming out is. They don't know what equations and calculations the software is performing, or why. And they consider themsleves engineers. They will come to me with an answer to a problem, and it will say that a fan blade on a turbine should be 2 feet thick and a mile long..."
Of course, he wrote the computer modeling program.
Ok, now I know this is Dad.The first lesson to the newbies is to write down an estimate of what the answer should be before going anywhere near a computer. They always asked "How do I do THAT!?!?!?" Simple, ask somebody, look at a similar design, do a hand calculation (HAND CALCULATION??????), sketch what looks right, use a crystal ball..... Then when the magic machine spits out something, you have a reality check
Cheers