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What is calculus used for?

XMan

XMan

Lifer
I was working on a machine at a high school today and started talking to one of the teachers. She was asking me what sort of degree I had, etc., because her son was having troubles in college with his math classes . . . I had pretty much the same problem.

I do fine on stuff that I can easily apply to real world problems, ie, geometry to carpentry, algebra, etc. But as soon as those wacky imaginary numbers popped up, I threw my hands up and said, forget it.

So what in the real world can calculus be used for?
 
weeding out people like me from college 😱

i withdrew from the class twice to avoid failing and just plain failed it the third time i took it

me == low math skills
 
Engineering. I was trying to figure out how many gallons of water were in the bottom of our cyclindrical oil tank (laying on its "side") when I knew there were 1.6 inches of water, the radius of the tank is 47.5 inches, and the length of the tank is 14 feet.

It turned out I needed calculus. The problem is to figure out the area bounded by an arc and the chord subtending the arc. Needless to say, I didn't bother. I drew the shape in AutoCAD and used the AREA command on the shape I drew and multiplied it by 14 feet and 12inches/feet. 😀

[edit] and then converted cubic inches to gallons. It was 18.9 gallons [/edit]
 
Ever drive a car? Ever use a computer? Ever listen to music? Ever take the time to consider how your house/appartment complex is designed and built and how they'll know if the materials will withstand the use?

Calculus is used everywhere.
 
business. economics (especially the theoretical stuff)... i've even got a book on analytical politics
 
Basically calculus is used to solve any problem that a 12 year old cannot do. If a 12 year old can solve the problem, it needs algebra or geometry. If a 12 year old cannot do it, calculous has a simple easy to use answer to the problem.

Engineering, math, business, economics, science, I could go on and on for things that are hundreds of times easier if you know calculus.
 
Originally posted by: Maetryx
Engineering. I was trying to figure out how many gallons of water were in the bottom of our cyclindrical oil tank (laying on its "side") when I knew there were 1.6 inches of water, the radius of the tank is 47.5 inches, and the length of the tank is 14 feet.

It turned out I needed calculus. The problem is to figure out the area bounded by an arc and the chord subtending the arc. Needless to say, I didn't bother. I drew the shape in AutoCAD and used the AREA command on the shape I drew and multiplied it by 14 feet and 12inches/feet. 😀

[edit] and then converted cubic inches to gallons. It was 18.9 gallons [/edit]
Click to expand...

yea stupid sh!t like that
 
Originally posted by: Maetryx
Engineering. I was trying to figure out how many gallons of water were in the bottom of our cyclindrical oil tank (laying on its "side") when I knew there were 1.6 inches of water, the radius of the tank is 47.5 inches, and the length of the tank is 14 feet.

It turned out I needed calculus. The problem is to figure out the area bounded by an arc and the chord subtending the arc. Needless to say, I didn't bother. I drew the shape in AutoCAD and used the AREA command on the shape I drew and multiplied it by 14 feet and 12inches/feet. 😀

[edit] and then converted cubic inches to gallons. It was 18.9 gallons [/edit]
Click to expand...

Why do you need calculus to figure out the volume of a cylinder . . . ? It's a simple math problem.
 
It wasn't the calculus as much as it was the thermodynamics that gave me a few grey hair in University. My fellow Engineering grads will confirm this I'm sure.
 
Originally posted by: X-Man
Originally posted by: Maetryx
Engineering. I was trying to figure out how many gallons of water were in the bottom of our cyclindrical oil tank (laying on its "side") when I knew there were 1.6 inches of water, the radius of the tank is 47.5 inches, and the length of the tank is 14 feet.

It turned out I needed calculus. The problem is to figure out the area bounded by an arc and the chord subtending the arc. Needless to say, I didn't bother. I drew the shape in AutoCAD and used the AREA command on the shape I drew and multiplied it by 14 feet and 12inches/feet. 😀

[edit] and then converted cubic inches to gallons. It was 18.9 gallons [/edit]
Click to expand...

Why do you need calculus to figure out the volume of a cylinder . . . ? It's a simple math problem.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I didn't think that was calculus. That's more like geometry.
 
Originally posted by: Rudee
It wasn't the calculus as much as it was the thermodynamics that gave me a few grey hair in University. My fellow Engineering grads will confirm this I'm sure.
Click to expand...

In This House We Obey the LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS!!
 
Why do you need calculus to figure out the volume of a cylinder . . . ? It's a simple math problem.
Click to expand...

Calculus is what gives you the formula for the volume of a cylinder. Do you have the formulas for the volume of a sphere/cone/pyramid/football/buckyball memorized in case you need it on a test? If not, do a bit of calculus and you can derive the formula.

 
Computer graphics and engineering. 3d algorithms and simulations.

Being able to do calculus means you're an intelligent person, able to tackle difficult problems. Out of the people who did well in Calc 3 with me, there is not a single idiot/moron.

It's good for showing off 🙂

P.S. It's also used in Physics, which I hate. What is PHySICS good for?! 🙂 🙂
 
Originally posted by: Maetryx
Engineering. I was trying to figure out how many gallons of water were in the bottom of our cyclindrical oil tank (laying on its "side") when I knew there were 1.6 inches of water, the radius of the tank is 47.5 inches, and the length of the tank is 14 feet.

It turned out I needed calculus. The problem is to figure out the area bounded by an arc and the chord subtending the arc. Needless to say, I didn't bother. I drew the shape in AutoCAD and used the AREA command on the shape I drew and multiplied it by 14 feet and 12inches/feet. 😀

[edit] and then converted cubic inches to gallons. It was 18.9 gallons [/edit]
Click to expand...
You didn't need calculus for that, you could have done it all with trignometry. Still probably would have been harder than putting it into AutoCAD though 😉
 
Originally posted by: dullard
Why do you need calculus to figure out the volume of a cylinder . . . ? It's a simple math problem.
Click to expand...

Calculus is what gives you the formula for the volume of a cylinder. Do you have the formulas for the volume of a sphere/cone/pyramid/football/buckyball memorized in case you need it on a test? If not, do a bit of calculus and you can derive the formula.
Click to expand...

No, but in the real world you're allowed to refer to the documentation. 😉
 
Originally posted by: VBboy
Computer graphics and engineering. 3d algorithms and simulations.

Being able to do calculus means you're an intelligent person, able to tackle difficult problems. Out of the people who did well in Calc 3 with me, there is not a single idiot/moron.

It's good for showing off 🙂

P.S. It's also used in Physics, which I hate. What is PHySICS good for?! 🙂 🙂
Click to expand...

you suck, physics rules!!
 
Originally posted by: Rudee
It wasn't the calculus as much as it was the thermodynamics that gave me a few grey hair in University. My fellow Engineering grads will confirm this I'm sure.
Click to expand...
Yes, that is true. It was sort of a weeding out class at my college.



 
Calculus is golden. It's easy to create equations to describe something, but most of them you need calculus to solve. Just like the infamous.

F = ma = m* dv/dt = m * dx^2/d^2t....
 
Originally posted by: TuxDave
Calculus is golden. It's easy to create equations to describe something, but most of them you need calculus to solve. Just like the infamous.

F = ma = m* dv/dt = m * dx^2/d^2t....
Click to expand...

I remember that from physics; I never found that particularly hard.

What kills me is "i" . . . I mean, what the hell do you need the square root of a negative number for, anyway?
 
Imaginary numbers are used for AC circuit analysis. It isn't something easy to comprehend but it just works.

 
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