What is calculus used for in the real world?

[shortylickens]

That would seem to be an ongoing issue, as far as my experience goes. My calculus classes focused almost entirely on theory, which is great if you're a math major, planning on being a math teacher or professor.
Wonderful. I can revolve an equation's curve around an axis and compute the bounded volume. Awesome. I'm gonna go impress my friends now, right?

Please connect it to a physical thing that illustrates why this means anything to anyone except people who love nothing but pure theory.

Anything that moves or has a curve.
Did you ever have physics? Do you know how distance relates to speed? Do you know how speed relates to acceleration?
That relationship can be explained by 1st year calculus.

 

[Paul98]

It all depends on what you are doing, there is lots that you can do with it. The problem is that most don't know how to transfer the knowledge over to the real world.

 

[oznerol]

Fun fact re: this thread - it brings 1-2 referrals a day to the site in my sig (generally the only 1-2 visitors).

Apparently the thread is highly ranked in Google when you search "what is calculus used for" and the like.

That is all.

 

[DrPizza]

That would seem to be an ongoing issue, as far as my experience goes. My calculus classes focused almost entirely on theory, which is great if you're a math major, planning on being a math teacher or professor.
Wonderful. I can revolve an equation's curve around an axis and compute the bounded volume. Awesome. I'm gonna go impress my friends now, right?

Please connect it to a physical thing that illustrates why this means anything to anyone except people who love nothing but pure theory.

In calculus class today, we spent about 5 minutes learning three tests to determine if a sequence is increasing or decreasing monotonically, or eventually increasing/decreasing. (one complete section from their text. After 5 minutes, they understood it completely) 10-15 minutes chatting about video games, 5 minutes chatting about another class they're taking, and 10 more minutes at the end of the period just chatting about general stuff.

But, when we got to applications - applied min/max problems, related rates, physics problems (pressure, work, etc.), and differential equations - sometimes I'd spend a week or more on a topic with little to zero discussion about non-math topics. Ever have to take something up a set of stairs with a turn in them, and the object didn't fit? Calculate the largest object you can navigate up such a set of stairs - calculus. I might have mentioned this in the thread 5 years ago; I'm not searching for it. Newton's law of cooling/heating - the rate of change of temperature is proportional to the difference in temperature between that of the object and the ambient temperature. I had to heat/cook summer sausage to between 150 and 155 degrees. I was supposed to check the temperature every 10 minutes (for 4 hours.) I said "heck with that", did two measurements, and solved the differential equation to know what time my summer sausage would be done based on my oven temperature, size of the summer sausage, etc. I was pretty much spot on for the total time. It was less than 1 minute of math for me.

 

[So]

If you think a university is wasting your time teaching you calculus, then you're wasting their time by attending a four year institution.

It may be hard, you may suck at it, and you may not use it in your career, but it is important to know if you want to be a well rounded intelligent person.

 

[shortylickens]

If you think a university is wasting your time teaching you calculus, then you're wasting their time by attending a four year institution.

It may be hard, you may suck at it, and you may not use it in your career, but it is important to know if you want to be a well rounded intelligent person.

Even after 3 years of listening to them I am surprised by all the people who whine about learning useless crap in college yet dont have the balls to leave and do something else.

 

[ichy]

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.

Medicine? I doubt that. Most doctors don't need to know more than basic arithmetic unless they're radiation oncologists or something obscure like that, and even for them it's medical physicists who do most of the hard number crunching.

 

[SagaLore]

MMORPG programming.

 

[thecrecarc]

We need an update from JEDI, did he actually use calculus? Or was it really a waste? The suspense is killing me.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Passed calc in high school with a C and passed AP test with a 3. Decided freshman year of college to do CS. Got a D+ in calc. Switched majors and never had to do math again.

 

[DrPizza]

Medicine? I doubt that. Most doctors don't need to know more than basic arithmetic unless they're radiation oncologists or something obscure like that, and even for them it's medical physicists who do most of the hard number crunching.

The amount of a drug present in the bloodstream generally decreases at a rate proportional to how much drug is present in the blood stream.

Do you see that sentence? Should a doctor understand that? It's certainly beyond "basic arithmetic." That sentence says, given x=the amount of drug present, dx/dt=-kx. Whoa! A simple differential equation. Understanding the calculus involved in solving that equation leads to an increased understanding of what is going on. The doctor needs not remember how to integrate that problem, though having done some calculus at some point or another will lead to a general increase in the understanding of underlying considerations when administering drugs.

Here, take a look at this book: Mathematical Modeling in Biology. Look through the index and see if there are any medicine related topics. Much of the book is at least at the calculus level; I think there's some partial differentical equations in there. Twas one of my favorite books:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0075...pt#reader-link

 

[JEDI]

Wow. Five fucking years.

Wonder what JEDI's doing with his life now.

6figure job, but my contract expires in a couple of months. company isnt renewing/extending.

and no, calculus wasnt needed to get this job.
(and multi-year guarenteed contracts are a godsend when the country is in a recession!)

 

[ichy]

The amount of a drug present in the bloodstream generally decreases at a rate proportional to how much drug is present in the blood stream.

Do you see that sentence? Should a doctor understand that? It's certainly beyond "basic arithmetic." That sentence says, given x=the amount of drug present, dx/dt=-kx. Whoa! A simple differential equation. Understanding the calculus involved in solving that equation leads to an increased understanding of what is going on. The doctor needs not remember how to integrate that problem, though having done some calculus at some point or another will lead to a general increase in the understanding of underlying considerations when administering drugs.

Here, take a look at this book: Mathematical Modeling in Biology. Look through the index and see if there are any medicine related topics. Much of the book is at least at the calculus level; I think there's some partial differentical equations in there. Twas one of my favorite books:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0075...pt#reader-link

Medical researchers absolutely need to be able to use calculus. Practicing physicians though? Not so much. Sure I'm glad the have to take a couple of semesters in college so that they still have a vague memory of the basics once they get to medical school, but I guarantee you that when a doctor is writing orders for a drug he isn't doing calculus in his head.

 

[DrPizza]

Medical researchers absolutely need to be able to use calculus. Practicing physicians though? Not so much. Sure I'm glad the have to take a couple of semesters in college so that they still have a vague memory of the basics once they get to medical school, but I guarantee you that when a doctor is writing orders for a drug he isn't doing calculus in his head.

And, I think I said that in my post. The doctor doesn't need to remember how to integrate such a problem. However, there's a lot of understanding that comes from calculus. When that doctor is writing the order, he's not figuring out the specific chemical reactions that are occurring from the chemicals in the drugs reacting with his body. He's not balancing chemical equations. He's not recalling all the reaction from a year of organic chemistry. Yet, these are fundamental to him understanding his practice beyond "it's magic."

 

[Triumph]

Calculus was invented by Newton (and also by Leibniz, but who cares). While pondering the great questions of the universe, our buddy Isaac discovered that the math he required to explain what was going on in the world, did not exist. So he invented a new mathematical method to explain the world. This man was so remarkable, that it would not be an exaggeration to say that, at the time of his life, he knew everything there was to know about science. More than any person living or dead, up to that point. Think about that, one guy actually did know everything. And if he didn't know it, he figured it out. Probably using Calculus.

And here we have Jedi...

 

[rayfieldclement]

I think calulus is useful for Enginerring and other math pursuits but not useful in daily life. I guess it gives you the ability to think more disciplined but I also think language does that.



What is the hardest math to learn?

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

The value of calculus and all other math is to provide greater perspective in problem solving and aid in estimating. IMHO estimating is the primary focus in the real world as few every day problems need exact answers.

 

[Tommy2000GT]

my dentist says I have calculus on my teeth