Highest level of math mastered

[pokerfan]

Poll question: Highest level of math mastered

[jobycom]

1. I passed DE. Then I switched to a history major and never thought about it again.

If that's mastering, that's the highest level I mastered. :)

[pokerfan]

27. I've solved lots of DE since that class

but only with the Laplace transform method. If it can't be solved that way, then it's unsolvable as far as I'm concerned.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

2. Used to be "beyond differential equations", but lack of use rotted it back to "calculus". -nt

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. LOL I am in the same boat except I'm rotting backwards from "I can count."

[SunnySong]

19. LOL

I rotted back from logic (with no numbers whatsoever. Never take a college course that starts at 9am and requires thinking) I am back to simple algebra.

[baldguy]

4. When I wrote programs in Assembly language, I could do hexadecimal arithmetic in my head.

[Capn Sunshine]

5. well, thank God for computers

I use all of that stuff when calculating derivative trades and CMOs
but I never mastered any of it; I just push the right sequence of buttons.

[Sisaruus]

6. It's been 40 years since I graduated from high school.

But I want to take algebra and geometry again. I thought it was fun back then. I may make that part of my retirement plans.

[mix]

7. Geometry and advanced algebra were the highest I took in college.

But I got through the courses, but I didn't "master" the math. I have had to brush up on all this recently and have thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Lindsey]

8. Does Statistics count? I actually like it and I'm NOT a math

person. However, I actually use it almost everyday at my job - but once again - I don't know if it counts as math.:shrug:

[amyrose2712]

9. Got a C in Calculus, but don't ask me to do it now. I chose pre-calc.nt

[Moondog]

10. Geez. You guys are tough.

I got as far as calculus in high school.

So tell me. Do I get at least a "D"?

On edit - I rethought the whole thing and decided it was definitely TMI.

[hobbit709]

11. Mastered, or been exposed to a basic knowledge of?

I can handle differentials or at least I could 40 years ago.

[Kali]

12. I actually liked and did very well with algebra and trig - but hit a wall with calculus

it was humbling to me at the time, but I got over it. My first actual failure while trying really hard at something. Before (and since, honestly), most of my failures have more to do with laziness.

[pokerfan]

31. Asimov said that everyone hits a wall at some point

for some, that might be algebra. For others, that might be DE Still, Sometimes it might just be a poor teacher (my DE teacher was horrible - I learned what I needed from my engineering professors as needed).

[Kali]

42. doubt if it was poor teachers, I tried 3 times

twice with the regular 2 semester course and once with the "fast and easy" 1 semester course designed for nursing students. I felt like I could comprehend examples in lecture just fine and somehow muddled through homework but could barely remember my name on tests. It was weird.

[pokerfan]

43. There's also an anxiety factor

I think everyone experiences that. I would see a problem and if the approach wasn't immediately obvious, I'd start freaking out. Heart starts racing, mouth goes dry, adrenal gland starts pumping. Most problems I could just force an answer by brute force but with some I wouldn't even have an idea where to begin. (College is also when I started losing my hair.) But you gave it three tries. It could just be your limit.

[Kali]

45. definitely anxiety by the third try!

:rofl:

the odd thing is that it was math, something I'd previously been above average at and it was the first and only time I had ever had actual test anxiety

hitting limits to one's abilities is more common later in life - in your late teens/early twenties it can be a shock:o

[pokerfan]

48. Yeah, math was always the one subject I never had to study

It always just seemed intuitive to me. Even differential calc. But integral calc was a completely different story. Suddenly, I had to study and actually work at math? :wtf: I remember failing the first test. Not just a fail but a giant red "F" with and explanation point. Professor Newton (heh) had written all kinds of caustic comments like "such algebra!" and I was seriously considering giving up. But I turned it around. Four more exams plus a final and I finished with a B. My love of math had been shattered, though. That prof remembered me though, and though that was the only class I ever took from him, even three years later he would always stop and say hi if he saw me on campus.

[liberaltrucker]

13. Basic calculus

Any math above that gave me a headache.

[LibDemAlways]

14. I was an English major in college. No math courses were required, which was

a good thing since I could not have passed one. I somehow managed to get through Algebra II in high school, but it was a struggle. I am just plain not good at math.

Interestingly my daughter has earned straight A's in her high school math classes, but her standardized test scores in math are just average. :shrug:
Definite disconnect there.

[S n o w b a l l]

15. There's no 8th grade math option...

I got a D in algebra in high school and was smart enough to understand I am DEFINITELY right brained and to forget about it.

Here's a test just for fun:

http://www.wherecreativitygoestoschool.com/vancouver/left_right/rb_test.htm


Thank you for taking the Creativity Test. The results show your brain dominance as being:


Left Brain Right Brain
42% 58%



You are more right-brained than left-brained. The right side of your brain controls the left side of your body. In addition to being known as right-brained, you are also known as a creative thinker who uses feeling and intuition to gather information. You retain this information through the use of images and patterns. You are able to visualize the "whole" picture first, and then work backwards to put the pieces together to create the "whole" picture. Your thought process can appear quite illogical and meandering. The problem-solving techniques that you use involve free association, which is often very innovative and creative. The routes taken to arrive at your conclusions are completely opposite to what a left-brained person would be accustomed. You probably find it easy to express yourself using art, dance, or music. Some occupations usually held by a right-brained person are forest ranger, athlete, beautician, actor/actress, craftsman, and artist.

[SunnySong]

16. How are you allowed to graduate high school without calculus?

seriously I find it hard to believe there are really that many high school dropouts on the board. I guess standards are easier in some high schools than other or the board skews quite old.

[S n o w b a l l]

17. I'm not a drop out....

Definitely graduated. Calculus wasn't required to graduate in my high school.

Kinda presumptuous, huh?

[SunnySong]

18. Little over the top silly. I am surprised high schools don't require higher math in Senior and

junior years. I mean you take algebra in Junior high and 1 year of geometry what kind of math is left?

[S n o w b a l l]

23. Not all schools are the same....

I took geometry in jr. high and algebra as a freshman in high school. That's all that was required to graduate.

[noamnety]

22. Are there any states that require calc to graduate high school?

Sounds like a good way to set kids up for failure by requiring a skill that the vast majority will neither master nor have any use for.

[SunnySong]

25. IO don't know about states but there are plenty of school; districts that require advanced math

They tend to be in small towns in the north east.

[noamnety]

29. I can imagine elite private schools requiring it

or public magnets - schools you can opt into, but I'm surprised to hear it would be mandatory for anyone living in any district to have to pass calculus to get a HS diploma.

[SunnySong]

30. Well they have an out course for the math

Geometry Algebra 2 Pre-Calculus Calculus Honors



Well in my old High School you currently need 3 credits of math

which are

Geometry

Algebra 2

Pre-Calculus

so you are correct if you elect not to take math in your senior year you can avoid full blown calculus


For Seniors they offer


Calculus Honors

A.P. Statistics

A.P. Calculus BC

Multivariable Calculus



There is also a track for special ed students called Applied Math but I assume that is not what we are talking about here,

This is pretty common for New England schools.

[WinkyDink]

64. "Advanced math" is NOT a synonym for "calculus". And I've had the latter, TYVM.

Post what you mean.

[Kaleva]

35. What purpose does calculus serve the average person?

I operated and repaired radar systems while serving in the Navy and ran my own business until becoming disabled using just the most basic math skills.

[SunnySong]

37. Learning to learn I am guessing...

I checked my old high school and it turns out you could get away with just pre-calculus and skip math senior year.

[WinkyDink]

62. That is the old wives' tale about why "math is good for you."

[hobbit709]

66. They don't want you to learn, they want you to be an obedient serf.

[grace0418]

36. Although I did take calc in high school, it was an AP class, not the norm.

I went to an excellent university and most of the kids I knew there were not required to take calculus in high school. It don't know your age but I'm guessing you're pretty young.

[elana i am]

44. well it was 18 years ago since i graduated high school

but i recall there being 1 class of advanced algebra, 2 classes of geometry and 2 classes of calculus being offered. at my middle school (basically a 2 year jr. high), the 8th graders were required to take beginning class of algebra. you could do the beginning algebra in 7th and the advanced in 8th if you wanted to get ahead, but it wasn't required. you just had to have one class of algebra to get to high school.

we didn't get to geometry or calculus until high school, and the calculus was not required to graduate.

[Kali]

47. back in my day (class of 77, or rather 78 as I took a year off)

they started offering AP classes the year behind me and those kids took calculus as an elective senior year

[WinkyDink]

61. Are you joking? Are you even an American? CALCULUS IS NOT REQUIRED ANYWHERE.

[hobbit709]

63. You can get a BA from a 4 year college

with no real science or math requirements. Calculus was never a HS requirement at any of the schools I went to. Hell, trig wasn't a requirement.

[WinkyDink]

65. And why not? It's not like college science or math majors must take Advanced Chaucer.

Why some people think it's only the maths and sciences that work the brain and call for research, I'll never know.
I suspect it's the same reasoning as with cameras:
The mistaken notion that if you have the rudiments (e.g., readng) down, you've got the matter covered.

Funny thing, though; I find myself thinking in words more than I think in formulae.

[Curmudgeoness]

20. Had to re-read the question, and "mastered" is a tough call.

Got through calculus and differential equations, but don't know how!

[TheMightyFavog]

21. Earned a college degree, never darkened the door of any kinf oc calculus calssroom.

Fulfilled my math requirements by taking basic algebra and a class called Quantitative Reasoning, a class which was basically all about solving story problems taught by a professor who was going senile.

[doc03]

24. The Goesintas n/t

[pitohui]

26. well i'm in the "beyond differential equations" school

but don't worry you don't need much of that to play poker, some statistics and game theory and you're pretty much on your way

[MiddleFingerMom]

28. That's ME on the left down there...

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I'm not making a snarky comment about his equation.
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That's just something I say a lot when it comes to maths
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[Lindsey]

33. All we needed to pass to get our H.S. Diploma was Algebra.

I received my Bachelor's and only needed one math course and they counted Statistics. I can't imagine taking Calculus or even Geometry.

[trackfan]

32. What's the thing where you figure out, for instance, the optimal dimensions

of a can of a certain volume when the top and bottom are of a material of a different price than the side. I could do that; whatever that was.

[EFerrari]

34. Horrible math phobia in high school.

We had the sweetest math teacher in the world and I didn't understand a word he said. He might as well have been Charlie Brown's teacher. He should have flunked me.

I went back to school when I was in my mid 20s and decided I better just start math all over again. And I loved it and it loved me. That was the huge surprise of going back to school, I lurved math and science.

[DarkTirade]

38. I learned BASIC programming in third grade

and since its all just a computer language version of algebra, I was basically doing algebra before I knew what it was.

And people wondered why I had no trouble with math classes until they threw me a curveball and tried to make us take Statistics in high school.

[Odin2005]

39. College Calc.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

40. I mastered college calculus

if you call a 'C' mastering, that is. I know I was damn glad of it.

[MiddleFingerMom]

41. I started college relatively late in life...

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...and my first semester, I made the huge... HUGE mistake of taking
(Science Major) Chemistry 101. The maths tripped me up bigtime.
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2/3 of the way thru the semester, I was failing (doing A or A+ work in
my other 4 courses).
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I pretty much DROPPED focus on everything else, worked my ASS off
on the chemistry course, and ended up with a C in in -- but everything
else had slipped down to B-level.
.
HAD to take the second semester in order for the first to qualify as a
science credit. Near the end of the semester, I was so lost -- worked
my ASS off, got in to take one of the three major exams, and realized
that I couldn't answer one single question. I seriously considered
"faking" (HAHAHAHA -- "faking)" test anxiety -- storming out of the
room shouting while tearing up my test and coming back very contritely
in three days after hitting the books even harder.
.
I decided just to sit there the full hour-and-a-half -- and turned in
an exam with merely my name written on it.
.
Took the "F" and learned a valuable lesson that I really should have
known already.
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I can spell math correctly fairly consistently.
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I'm OK with that.
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[Brother Buzz]

46. Japanese geometry learned from a Zen woodworker

My trigonometry was all but retired after two years study of Japanese geometry.

[Redstone]

49. Enough to get paid $500 a pop to take the GRE for quite a few people

back in the 1970s, before there were photo driver's licenses.

Redstone

[mnhtnbb]

50. Thank God I didn't have to take a math class in college!

[Tikki]

51. University statistics ....and I hated it....

But I passed.


Tikki

[wickerwoman]

52. Hard to say...

I took calculus in high school but don't remember a thing about it. I remember actually liking it (while hating geometry and trig) because for the first time I understood why I had been learning all of this seemingly pointless crap for five years.

Trig kicked my ass. Honestly couldn't tell you what it even is now without resorting to Wikipedia. Vectors? I dunno.

I could probably still solve easy-ish algebra equations so I would define that as my level of "mastery". Got a 730 in math on the GRE but I don't think that tests actual applied math knowledge. I did take statistics (for social sciences) recently and did fine but wouldn't say I'd "mastered" it.

[applegrove]

53. I failed matrix linear algebra. I aced geometry. I don't remember any of it anymore.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

54. calc I & II

[Rhiannon12866]

55. Math was not my thing... That could be me in the cartoon.

My last HS math teacher said she would pass me, if I promised "never to take math again in my whole life..." But then I had to take statistics in college. x(

[old mark]

56. VERY basic algebra, but so long ago that I could not work a problem at all now.

I took aptitude tests when I went back to college in my mid 40's that showed I had almost no math aptitude at all.

I had extremely high scores in anything verbal, though...


Why is the "common knowledge" that men are better at math than women? I can't believe that's true.


mark

[Scooter24]

57. I was on an accelerated track throughout HS...

I was on an honors/AP track throughout middle school and HS which meant I finished Algebra 2 in the 8th grade and started 9th grade with Geometry, followed by Pre-Cal, Calculus, then Multi-Variable Calculus my senior year.

My AP score was good enough to start college well into my mathematics requirements, but I still opted to take an accelerated Multi-Variable Calc. that had a strong base in theory then progressed into Differential Equations then onto Linear Algebra. Add in a Statistics class and that pretty much wraps up my mathematics education.

All the discussions on vector functions, gradients, curls, divergence, integrals, etc is enough to make your head explode :P

[velvet]

58. I got to trigonometry, barely, then backslid to "I can count"

I wasn't that interested in maths but I did like the slide rule.

I only got the rudiments, but I could tell it was a really well-designed tool, and I admired it.

[6000eliot]

59. College match for idiots.

Set theory and probability.

[WinkyDink]

60. "Mastered" was the fly in this ointment!

[jdp349]

67. I completed multivariable calculus

I just thought it was sort of a moral responsibility to be reasonably math literate, I used to my elective credits to do it.

[JPZenger]

68. Calculus - and never had any reason to use it

I took calculus in high school because my friends did. I never had any reason to use it.

[Iggo]

69. Mastered? LOL.

I can count.