Does anyone really remember the math they were taught in school?

[Himu]

Anyone?

The only thing I remember is basic math, averaging, fractions, percentages and basic geometry and algebra.

What was the highest math class you took and do remember all of it? If so, do you use it in your daily life?

[The Fake Shemp]

No, math is useless unless you're a nerd.

[Reb]

Yes, Pythagoras bitches.

[Himu]

No, math is useless unless you're a nerd.

Seriously. I mean, what use does math have in the average person's daily life aside from averaging or finding the area of a piece of wood you need to cut or something?

[The Fake Shemp]

I have calculators to do math for me. I even have a rule that no math is allowed on weekends, when I'm not working.

No math!

[recursivelyenumerable]

I still buy math textbooks and study most every day, so ...

[The Fake Shemp]

You're also neurotic and have problems with social interaction, so ...

[Himu]

I still buy math textbooks and study most every day, so ...

What the fuck? Aren't you out of school? And you study math?

[muckhole]

It got systematically flushed out of my head on the last day of school.

I would fight math if I could.

[recursivelyenumerable]

You're also neurotic and have problems with social interaction, so ...

yeah, you really cut me to the quick there with that there stunningly pertinent remark

[recursivelyenumerable]

What the fuck? Aren't you out of school? And you study math?

Sure, just like I still study computer science and music.  If you have a serious interest in a subject, learning about it is a lifelong endeavor.

[Himu]

It got systematically flushed out of my head on the last day of school.

I would fight math if I could.

I would beat the shit out of math.
 


Dude, I forgot like, all Spanish the last day of school I took Spanish II. I got good enough in Spanish to the point where I had an A in the class and I forgot pretty much all Spanish I knew.

If someone walks up to me and speaks Spanish, I have no clue what the fuck they're saying, and I took 3 years of the shit.

[Himu]

What the fuck? Aren't you out of school? And you study math?

Sure, just like I still study computer science and music.  If you have a serious interest in a subject, learning about it is a lifelong endeavor.

Studying math?

AUGGGHHHHH

[Tauntaun]

I hated math only took it up until 11th grade.  Don't use it, don't miss it. 

[recursivelyenumerable]

it's a lot more fun than coding (and debugging) sometimes, let me tell ya.

[Himu]

I didn't take a math class in my senior year in high school.

That year owned.

[Tauntaun]

I didn't take a math class in my senior year in high school.

That year owned.

Seriously I had 4 free periods first half of the year and 3 the second. 

[Himu]

I didn't take a math class in my senior year in high school.

That year owned.

Seriously I had 4 free periods first half of the year and 3 the second. 

I didn't have a car so I couldn't do that. I just took a bunch of shitty easy classes where I could sleep all period like Home Ec.


The worst thing ever though? Going from High School to college and taking a math class after having not had a math class in ages.

Torture.

[OptimoPeach]

Nope. It doesn't help that I had a string of shitty math teachers in high school. I was so fed up that I quit taking math after the 2 year minimum. I think I'd taken AP Algebra 2 and Geometry and could have completed Calc I by graduation, but I'm glad I didn't now. Not looking forward to relearning it if/when I go back to school.

I didn't take a math class in my senior year in high school.

That year owned.

Seriously I had 4 free periods first half of the year and 3 the second. 

From 10th-12th grade I was getting out of school by 12PM, and by my senior year I was such a fuck up that I was only going probably 2 days out of the week on average. My high school was a bit of a mess, though

[Diunx]

I don't even remember the math I was taught last semester

fuck this thread is moving fast.

[Himu]

Not looking forward to relearning it if/when I go back to school

Oh God, good luck. See my post above.

[Kestastrophe]

I recently learned how to do long division again after not having any use for it for the last 15 years or so. I've refreshed on alot of old math material, since I've been studying for a standardized test 


Recursive, what math subjects do you study? 

[OptimoPeach]

Not looking forward to relearning it if/when I go back to school

Oh God, good luck. See my post above.

Aha yeah. I'm hoping I can reteach myself everything that I knew instead of paying money for math that I already took in high school.

[Himu]

I remember using long division in like, third grade or something. We hadn't used it since like 6th grade or something like that. Suddenly, in a college math class the teacher started to use long division.

I wanted to kill myself. I hadn't seen that crap in a good 10 years.

The one thing I'm worried about when I take the ASVAB is the math.

[Junpei the Tracer!]

No not really, I forgot a lot of things I've learned in school.

[recursivelyenumerable]

Recursive, what math subjects do you study? 

i'm interested in algebraic topology and category theory.

[Saint Cornelius]

No, math is useless unless you're a nerd.

You never fail to say the stupidest shit.

I was a knucklehead in school, thinking I would never need math so fuck all that. Almost twenty years later, my career path has unexpectedly veered towards the scientific direction and I find myself wishing that I would've paid more attention to the numbers.

Maybe you will need math, maybe you won't. To dismiss it outright is fucking a foolish.

[Bocsius]

I kept all my college textbooks basically starting with my second year of college, thinking that I would use them as resources. Yeah, that hasn't happened, although I do sometimes crack open the astronomy book, which is actually from my first year of school.

However, the books I wish I kept were my College Algebra and particularly Business Calculus books, also from my first year. I can still do algebra, of course, having originally taken it in 8th grade and progressed through high school, but I don't remember much of calculus at all. Sometimes I entertain thoughts of going to the local college bookstore and picking up whatever calculus book they're using now.

[Kestastrophe]

Recursive, what math subjects do you study? 

i'm interested in algebraic topology and category theory.

cool. I've actually never heard of it before.

[elektrikluv]

I hardly remember anything. Except the stuff you said. God I hated maths.

[Cormacaroni]

Some of the richest people I know are math geeks. Algorithmic trading is fast becoming the norm in Wall St. If you don't know the math, you can't program the computers to out-trade other computers.

[The Fake Shemp]

I was a knucklehead in school, thinking I would never need math so fuck all that. Almost twenty years later, my career path has unexpectedly veered towards the scientific direction and I find myself wishing that I would've paid more attention to the numbers.

Amen, elektrikluv. Maybe we can get hitched and "Math Sucks" by Jimmy Buffet will be our wedding song!

[Himu]

How did your career path "unexpectedly veer towards the scientific direction"? I mean, how did your career path change so rapidly?

[etiolate]

I had forgotten most of my math due to never having use for it in daily life.  Then I had to go back to school and relearn it, starting out at a level below where I was in highschool.

Yet, every time I see a public education discussion, people are crying for more math and sciences in school.  The science I can understand, because it has many different areas and public education gives it an edited and general overview. But there being Calculus level math in High School is a far higher jumping point into life than what I see people getting in Science, English or Social Sciences.

[Tauntaun]

No, math is useless unless you're a nerd.

You never fail to say the stupidest shit.

I was a knucklehead in school, thinking I would never need math so fuck all that. Almost twenty years later, my career path has unexpectedly veered towards the scientific direction and I find myself wishing that I would've paid more attention to the numbers.

Maybe you will need math, maybe you won't. To dismiss it outright is fucking a foolish.

Nerd confirmed.

[Saint Cornelius]

I was a knucklehead in school, thinking I would never need math so fuck all that. Almost twenty years later, my career path has unexpectedly veered towards the scientific direction and I find myself wishing that I would've paid more attention to the numbers.

tell me why that's funny? 

[Saint Cornelius]

Nerd confirmed.

If I was a nerd I would've known to pay attention in school.  :'(

I'm a nerd, but not the smart kind, I guess.

[Phoenix Dark]

The only time I wind up doing math without a calculator is when I'm buying groceries; ie "I have $100 how many items can I buy...". Otherwise I'm doing HW, taking tests, etc using a calculator. And when I get a job I'll be using a calculator/computer programs

Don't remember the last time I used algebra in daily life

[recursivelyenumerable]

Math is not about calculation, it's about logic and abstraction.  So going on about calculators is neither here nor there.  SMH.

[Cormacaroni]

Also don't get the lols at the sudden change in career path. I had to re-learn basic math to pass exams when I was 30, long after I ever thought I'd need it. Folks are going to need to be extremely flexible to succeed over the coming generations. Very few of us will have the luxury of staying in one career our whole lives.

[cool breeze]

nope

I'm still alright at basic math and percentages, which seems like a gift compared to the average person I interact with, but yeah, don't remember anything anymore.

[Himu]

Also don't get the lols at the sudden change in career path. I had to re-learn basic math to pass exams when I was 30, long after I ever thought I'd need it. Folks are going to need to be extremely flexible to succeed over the coming generations. Very few of us will have the luxury of staying in one career our whole lives.

Well, Willco lol'd. I asked a legitimate question, because I'm curious as to why corny changed careers.

[Phoenix Dark]

waiting for mr. math genius cajolejuice to respond

[The Fake Shemp]

I'm sorry, but I had a visual of Corny with his beard and black goggles embarking on a series of mad scientist ventures in an effort to conquer the world. It was really only funny to me.

[Kestastrophe]

Some of the richest people I know are math geeks. Algorithmic trading is fast becoming the norm in Wall St. If you don't know the math, you can't program the computers to out-trade other computers.

quants

I had plans to go into a Financial Engineering grad program a few years back. They make major bank

[Saint Cornelius]

It was really only funny to me.

Sums it all up, pretty much.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Yes, actually.

Comes in handy for various engineering equations, accounting, and on the fly budget estimations.

It's pretty essential to success, with a few exceptions here and there.

[Madrun Badrun]

some.  If not it usually comes back pretty easily - if you understand the theory behind it and not just memorize equations that is.     

[brawndolicious]

Of course I remember like high school level math.  It's anything beyond that I have to grab my ankles to understand and yet I'll have to use it fairly often in any future field I can go into.

[Madrun Badrun]

recursive what kind of maths do you typically use in your regular compsci routine? 

[Loki]

yeah, you really cut me to the quick there with that there stunningly pertinent remark

[chronovore]

Also don't get the lols at the sudden change in career path. I had to re-learn basic math to pass exams when I was 30, long after I ever thought I'd need it. Folks are going to need to be extremely flexible to succeed over the coming generations. Very few of us will have the luxury of staying in one career our whole lives.

Werd to that, yo. Look at the boom in "internet professionals" and half-assed HTML editors and that whole boom/bust economy. Think back to desktop publishing houses, and even the small-run print houses that were all over. Linotype machine operators, and before that, lead typesetters. I'm looking back over my short life, and seeing all kinds of jobs that just don't exist anymore.

I'm pretty decent at math, though I think schools now start kids earlier, so they tend to be more advance. I was at a decent high school, but "Intro to Calculus Mathematics" was the highest class they offered normally. Isn't regular calculus a fairly standard offering nowadays?

I studied ICM for half a year, until one day I went to the teacher and asked him for help on a topic, and he asked me why I was bothering to take math since I'd already cleared all the college prep stuff with Trigonometry. I didn't have a good answer.

So I took a free period instead; looking back, I think he was prodding me to see if I was a serious math student. That's a dumb thing to do to a 17 year old; the only reason anybody is in any high school class is because they have to be. Only in college did I start following up on topics because I was actually interested in them.

On topic: I can usually work my way back through a lot of math, and I'm looking forward to helping my kids with their math homework.

What the fuck? Aren't you out of school? And you study math?

Sure, just like I still study computer science and music.  If you have a serious interest in a subject, learning about it is a lifelong endeavor.

That's just about the coolest thing I've seen you write.