What is calculus used for in the real world?

[JEDI]

i've been thinking of all the courses i've wasted time studying, calculus is #1 in my book.

I've taken 4 semesters of it, and i cant figure out if there's any uses for it in normal everyday life.

Can u?

 

[oznerol]

Well, since physics is essentially the application of calculus to real-world events, any profession utilizing physics in some form will require at least a basic knowledge of calculus.

 

[VTHodge]

I do a lot of work in sterilization technology. I don't need to use the actual math, but the concepts are important for understanding accumulated lethality and heat transfers.

 

[Acanthus]

It only really applies to physics and engineering... or math majors.

Applications usually apply to stuff like physics, however most phsyics is plug and chug, unless youre working with physics theory.

I hear it's used a lot in cryptology, and some in advanced economics.

 

[Flyback]

"normal everyday life" - you mean trivial crap like repairing your car and fixing your leaking faucets? Hell no. Doing something challenging at work? Sure.

I can't count the numerous times that I've been researching something out of personal interest and hobby alone, and run into the calculus.

Besides, the analytical side of calculus is very worthwhile for a well-rounded citizen and more difficult to measure. It will make you a better person.

 

[Lalakai]

i'll apply portions of it to my job, doing design work, and construction inspection where i have to have very specific documentation. Sometimes when i'm in the field and we make a modification on-site, i don't have access to a laptop, so i have to do the calcs on the fly and document why i let the work proceed, or why i stopped the work.

Don't look at the specific calculations you learn, but value the methodology that you acquire, in understanding and applying the calculus. that same methodology and application process is what you will be constantly applying in many many fields.

college teaches you how to learn and adapt; those are the biggest lessons.

 

[gerwen]

Calculus helps describe the world around you. If you don't need to accurately do that, you don't need calculus.

 

[Pacemaker]

It can be good for figuring up how much stain (or pant etc.) you need to stain a non-rectangular area, but in the end most people will just estimate instead of doing the math even if they know how to do it.

 

[aphex]

Finding black holes?

 

[ATLien247]

All of the concepts I learned in my Business Calculus course could be applied to the real world. Too bad I won't be in the position to do so until well after I've forgotten it all...

 

[jman19]

Wow, imo calculus is extremely important to know, even if you don't directly use it in day-to-day life. A lot of professionals use it every day. It has tremendous applications in physical sciences, engineering, economics, finance, computer science, medicine, etc.

 

[ebaycj]

Originally posted by: JEDI
i've been thinking of all the courses i've wasted time studying, calculus is #1 in my book.

I've taken 4 semesters of it, and i cant figure out if there's any uses for it in normal everyday life.

Can u?

Umm, if that is not completely obvious to you after 4 semesters of calc/diffeq, you have SERIOUSLY missed the point.

 

[torpid]

I can't think of a single example where I used or even remembered calculus in the past 12 years. I majored in computer science and am a programmer.

 

[Tifababy]

DSL and HDTV use QAM which requires calculus. Maybe you're not figuring out the calculus, but you're definitely benefiting from it.

 

[b0mbrman]

Statistics uses a lot of calculus

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: JEDI
i've been thinking of all the courses i've wasted time studying, calculus is #1 in my book.

I've taken 4 semesters of it, and i cant figure out if there's any uses for it in normal everyday life.

Can u?

Everyday since most things around you are non-stagnant. The heat flux from the sun to the surface of the Earth which convects off of the ground and warms your body is one example. Just like everything else, you can choose to take that knowledge for granted, but when someone asks you how the sun is able to warm you up, you would know a very good answer for that someone who is very curious and asks why/how?

Anything that changes from one state to another involves calculus in its explaination.


Actual repairing of the car, or repairing of the dripping faucet doesnt require knowledge of calculus. Understanding how the car's engine works, how the concentration gradient changes with time of titrating a chemical into another does require calculus.

 

[jman19]

Originally posted by: torpid
I can't think of a single example where I used or even remembered calculus in the past 12 years. I majored in computer science and am a programmer.

Perhaps, but there are CS domains that use calculus; just because you program and don't use calc doesn't mean computer scientists don't use it

 

[Minerva]

Fire up an old copy of gwbasic and load gorilla.bas.

mmmm Quadrature Amplitude Modulation. Reminds me of Now and Laters but those are so bad for my teeth.

 

[clamum]

I've taken up to Calc 3 and have never used it outside of the math classes. I went to school for computer science and write software for a job. I haven't been in the workforce for very long though.

EDIT: I agree with you jman. Depends on what domain you're working in too.

 

[purbeast0]

I took an image processing class in school and calculus was used a lot. The derivative of a pixel would tell you the color difference between the pixel and it's neighbor pixels.

It was only 1 semester and we used matlab for our programming exercises, but I used calculus in all of our 5 assignments.

Right now where I work our software we make is CAD software with both 2D and 3D modeling capabilities, and while I've never worked on any of the major 3D stuff myself, I've seen some calculus in the code. However most of the stuff I've done with it is linear algebrae.

 

[BrownTown]

Originally posted by: JEDI
i've been thinking of all the courses i've wasted time studying, calculus is #1 in my book.

I've taken 4 semesters of it, and i cant figure out if there's any uses for it in normal everyday life.

Can u?

absolutely EVERYTHING. Honestly, I cannot see how anyone can get along without knowing calculus, it is fundamentally important to having any sort of understanding of the world. I know when I took calculus in high school I too though it was useless, but it definitely is not. If you want to have any sort of technical career then you NEED calculus, I'm not necessarily talking about knowing all the different way to integrate and such, but you better darn well know what the final answer actually mean.

 

[torpid]

Originally posted by: jman19

Originally posted by: torpid
I can't think of a single example where I used or even remembered calculus in the past 12 years. I majored in computer science and am a programmer.

Perhaps, but there are CS domains that use calculus; just because you program and don't use calc doesn't mean computer scientists don't use it

No, but it means not all computer scientists use it.

 

[dullard]

You use caculus every day of your life. Do you need to press the breaks to avoid that car in front of you? Answer depends on calculus. You do that each and every day automatically in your head.

All you need to learn is how to do what you do automatically and put it on paper.

Calculus is one of THE most important things you do all the time.

 

[jman19]

Originally posted by: torpid

Originally posted by: jman19

Originally posted by: torpid
I can't think of a single example where I used or even remembered calculus in the past 12 years. I majored in computer science and am a programmer.

Perhaps, but there are CS domains that use calculus; just because you program and don't use calc doesn't mean computer scientists don't use it

No, but it means not all computer scientists use it.

So what did I say that refuted that point? Nothing.

 

[BrownTown]

I struggle to think of an engineering class in which I did NOT need calculus while in college. Maybe you should take an electrical engineering course and realise the amount of calculus that goes into solving the equations for even the simplest of devices. Ever heard of the Maxwell equations? 4 nice little vector calculus equations that govern how every single electrical and magnetic device in this world works.