What's the highest level of math you've taken?

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Originally Posted by Not_A_Llama

If it makes you feel better, one of my degrees is in math, and Calc II still holds a special place in my heart as a "most hated" class.

If I hadn't gotten it out of the way with AP Calculus BC in high school, it probably would have impacted my college path.

Calc3 was actually kinda cool. I will say, too, the accents of my professors at CU made some classes a lot harder. I don't think I showed up to more than 25% of lectures. Recitations were hit-or-miss.

Oh, and I definitely recommend Khan Academy's courses. Also check out MIT's OpenCourseWare. It's a great time to be learning.

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For me, Calc I was a huge curveball. I was expecting it to be an expansion of pre-calc like going into quntic lines, more details on linear regression, finding intercepts, et cetera. After mastering differentiation, I felt like Riemann sums were the most hard, retarded things ever.

I did fairly well in Calc II, integration by parts seemed very easy, so did converting from polar to parametric, and also the integrals of polar equations seemed like cake. Yet, when I did series, it felt as if I was dealing with the hardest things the world has seen.

In high school I never really had any problems with math. Typically I would sleep through the class and I didn't ever do my homework. I'd ace all the tests, so the teachers didn't bother me too much. After Algebra and Geometry I didn't care to take any other math courses because I couldn't find a use for them.

I've never really met anyone that completed Calculus and had any real world use for it.

You might be a Redneck if the highest level of math you completed was counting your pinky toe!! [Tooth]

Got a math minor while getting my engineering degree. Didn't want to, but just meeting the minimum requirements forced me to.

I read an interesting book a while back called "100 math concepts you need to know", or something like that. Pretty dorky, but the author made a very interesting observation about the amount of math a person has affecting overall success in life. Apparently, good math skills translate into good analysis of some of life's decisions, and in the long run predict a higher standard of living. I think Calc I is the practical limit of usefulness and all the rest has little added benefit.

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Originally Posted by Tim K

Got a math minor while getting my engineering degree. Didn't want to, but just meeting the minimum requirements forced me to.

I read an interesting book a while back called "100 math concepts you need to know", or something like that. Pretty dorky, but the author made a very interesting observation about the amount of math a person has affecting overall success in life. Apparently, good math skills translate into good analysis of some of life's decisions, and in the long run predict a higher standard of living. I think Calc I is the practical limit of usefulness and all the rest has little added benefit.

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Agreed.

Making your brain perform math equations "trains" it to solve problems algorithmically which is vital to most any profession you go into.

Something about this thread just doesn't add up............

When I worked on a survey crew we got into some interesting math, closing polygons and such. Confused the bejesus outta me for a while but just about the time the "cross training" assignment ran out I started to get it.

Want to confuse the hell out of somebody? Hand them a calculator set up for Reverse Polish Notation[Muaha]

I changed majors in college because I struggled with whatever calculus class I had to take. I actually switched Economics, which is all math classes, but did better and was glad for the change. I really wish I was better at math. I'm the guy who can't do algebra, but got A's in statistics. Statistics was actually the only math class I ever got an A in.

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Originally Posted by BPTactical

Want to confuse the hell out of somebody? Hand them a calculator set up for Reverse Polish Notation[Muaha]

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Or hand me a traditional calculator. I've been using the same HP with RPN since 1985. Damned if I can run a normal calculator without breaking out in a sweat.

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Originally Posted by Outlaw1

I've never really met anyone that completed Calculus and had any real world use for it.

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Can't speak for other industries, but you need calculus for finance. Especially hedging and pricing derivatives.

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Originally Posted by Irving

I changed majors in college because I struggled with whatever calculus class I had to take. I actually switched Economics, which is all math classes, but did better and was glad for the change. I really wish I was better at math. I'm the guy who can't do algebra, but got A's in statistics. Statistics was actually the only math class I ever got an A in.

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Same here. Statistics made sense and had a point. Never could get my head around algebra.

Never could do fractions either, until I started taking drafting classes.