Practice makes permanent not perfect, remember that.Mek-Izzle wrote:
Yeah, you just have to learn to filter the crap out and highlight the key information they give you. If you suck, do more questions. Maths is easy, it's just about repetition until you can do it like a Robot. Course, it's not the best way to learn it as you usually end up forgetting everything the minute you finish the examHurricaИe wrote:
I don't even know what I want to major in at college. If I want to do something with engineering I'll obviously need math.
If I want something like, idk, law or medicine or whatever... I'll likely not need more than basic math.
I'm pretty good at math, I'm just sour about it right now because the "Hard" questions on the SAT make me sad. I fucking hate problems that are worded out. For example, tomorrow I have a basic trig test that I'll likely get an A on... because they give me the triangle, a few numbers and a variable, and ask me to solve the variables or all the measures of the angles, etc. Whereas on the SAT they give you these long, worded out pieces of crap.
But fuck, it gets the grades
Here is a simple bit of everyday Maths that everyone in the UK will use at some point.
V.A.T (Value Added Tax, not found in the price of books but most other items) it's added to items at the cost of 17.5% of the items original price.
17.5% can be broken down like this:
10%
5%
2.5%
(Added together makes 17.5%, agreed?)
So you wish to purchase something which will have the VAT added after, say for eg you were shopping at Macro (a store a bit like Wallamart I think)
The TV you wanted costs £120
(10%) = £12
half of that (5%) = £6
half of that (2.5%) = £3
£12+£6+£3 = £21
Thus you would pay £21 in VAT.
I only learned that after school but to a business user (you can claim vat back) it's everyday use. Once you find 10% (an easy calculation) you can find the other dividends to make the total of 17.5%
V.A.T (Value Added Tax, not found in the price of books but most other items) it's added to items at the cost of 17.5% of the items original price.
17.5% can be broken down like this:
10%
5%
2.5%
(Added together makes 17.5%, agreed?)
So you wish to purchase something which will have the VAT added after, say for eg you were shopping at Macro (a store a bit like Wallamart I think)
The TV you wanted costs £120
(10%) = £12
half of that (5%) = £6
half of that (2.5%) = £3
£12+£6+£3 = £21
Thus you would pay £21 in VAT.
I only learned that after school but to a business user (you can claim vat back) it's everyday use. Once you find 10% (an easy calculation) you can find the other dividends to make the total of 17.5%
I've gotten A's on every math course in high school. I didn't do so great on the PSAT math section, probably because it had some shit I hadn't learned yet, and because its questions are half-word problem and half-normal. I hate word problems.Mek-Izzle wrote:
Yeah, you just have to learn to filter the crap out and highlight the key information they give you. If you suck, do more questions. Maths is easy, it's just about repetition until you can do it like a Robot. Course, it's not the best way to learn it as you usually end up forgetting everything the minute you finish the examHurricaИe wrote:
I don't even know what I want to major in at college. If I want to do something with engineering I'll obviously need math.
If I want something like, idk, law or medicine or whatever... I'll likely not need more than basic math.
I'm pretty good at math, I'm just sour about it right now because the "Hard" questions on the SAT make me sad. I fucking hate problems that are worded out. For example, tomorrow I have a basic trig test that I'll likely get an A on... because they give me the triangle, a few numbers and a variable, and ask me to solve the variables or all the measures of the angles, etc. Whereas on the SAT they give you these long, worded out pieces of crap.
But fuck, it gets the grades
Well, you wouldn´t be sitting behind a computer writing this if not for a mix of mathematics and engineering.......teddy..jimmy wrote:
During math class today I was working on some kind of binomial equation within probability and I suddenly realised "jeeeeeeeee what the fuck is the point of this?". I like math and I take it at a pretty challenging level so occasionally it's quite fun but there are a lot of times when I really can't be bothered to learn things that I'm absolutely positive will not help me in later life. For example... P(X=x)=nCr(p)^r(1-p)^r-1 (Feel free to correct me on this if it's wrong). I've already been accepted to study law at university next year so I'm sitting here thinking..WOW..what a waste of brain capacity. I could be sitting here learning about interesting things like multiple female g-spots or when EXACTLY not to piss a woman off but instead I'm learning about equations that will be long gone from my brain in about 3 months.
This is by no means a hate thread being judgmental to you math lovers out there. All I'm asking, especially the older generation on these forums, has math been beneficial to you in life? I'm not talking about basic math but rather about more complex problems involving calculus, trig, etc.
Everything is math related, you will see it when trying to defend somebody based on "timing"....
I think the point jimmy was making was that he'll never use calculus or shit like that as a lawyer.
Calculus, trig etc are very important in scientific and engineering fields, but I don't see how they help as a psychologist or historian or lawyer.
Calculus, trig etc are very important in scientific and engineering fields, but I don't see how they help as a psychologist or historian or lawyer.
lol i just didn't do the math section on the 10th grade psat, i was in the 90% tile for everything else thoughHurricaИe wrote:
I've gotten A's on every math course in high school. I didn't do so great on the PSAT math section, probably because it had some shit I hadn't learned yet, and because its questions are half-word problem and half-normal. I hate word problems.Mek-Izzle wrote:
Yeah, you just have to learn to filter the crap out and highlight the key information they give you. If you suck, do more questions. Maths is easy, it's just about repetition until you can do it like a Robot. Course, it's not the best way to learn it as you usually end up forgetting everything the minute you finish the examHurricaИe wrote:
I don't even know what I want to major in at college. If I want to do something with engineering I'll obviously need math.
If I want something like, idk, law or medicine or whatever... I'll likely not need more than basic math.
I'm pretty good at math, I'm just sour about it right now because the "Hard" questions on the SAT make me sad. I fucking hate problems that are worded out. For example, tomorrow I have a basic trig test that I'll likely get an A on... because they give me the triangle, a few numbers and a variable, and ask me to solve the variables or all the measures of the angles, etc. Whereas on the SAT they give you these long, worded out pieces of crap.
But fuck, it gets the grades
Meh, just pass the class then.
I actually find calculus easier than trig, tbh.
I actually find calculus easier than trig, tbh.

sohcahtoacowami wrote:
Meh, just pass the class then.
I actually find calculus easier than trig, tbh.
You go ahead and memorize the values of sin/cos/tan(3π/4) then recall it for a testHurricaИe wrote:
sohcahtoacowami wrote:
Meh, just pass the class then.
I actually find calculus easier than trig, tbh.

thank god I haven't gotten to that thencowami wrote:
You go ahead and memorize the values of sin/cos/tan(3π/4) then recall it for a testHurricaИe wrote:
sohcahtoacowami wrote:
Meh, just pass the class then.
I actually find calculus easier than trig, tbh.
Honors trig FTLHurricaИe wrote:
thank god I haven't gotten to that thencowami wrote:
You go ahead and memorize the values of sin/cos/tan(3π/4) then recall it for a testHurricaИe wrote:
sohcahtoa
Skipping pre-calc and going straight to AP Calc FTW

lawl honors / smart classescowami wrote:
Honors trig FTLHurricaИe wrote:
thank god I haven't gotten to that thencowami wrote:
You go ahead and memorize the values of sin/cos/tan(3π/4) then recall it for a test
Skipping pre-calc and going straight to AP Calc FTW
I'm torn now. If I want to go into engineering I'd take "Functions" (Algebra 3 essentially) next year. If I go into business I'd want to take the Statistics course.
It is trivial to derive the values with simple triangles. You don't need to memorize anything complicated.cowami wrote:
You go ahead and memorize the values of sin/cos/tan(3π/4) then recall it for a testHurricaИe wrote:
sohcahtoacowami wrote:
Meh, just pass the class then.
I actually find calculus easier than trig, tbh.
Firstly you don't live in America so the word is maths...teddy..jimmy wrote:
All I'm asking, especially the older generation on these forums, has math been beneficial to you in life? I'm not talking about basic math but rather about more complex problems involving calculus, trig, etc.
Secondly, In high school I felt the same way about maths... and physics and chemistry and English. In fact the only courses I though would be any use at all in real life were economics and Business Studies (but even these turned out to be useless too). But then again, nothing you learn at school is to teach you anything apart from how to learn. That's right, nothing you learn at school is very important at all, and to put it into perspective, In the first 6 weeks of uni we covered pretty much everything we did in the final 2 years of school (80 weeks).
So saying that, realistically, very little of what you learn in maths at high school will be of much help in everyday life, but what it does do is help you to learn in a more logical way. Don't get me wrong maths is used all the time in many professions, from engineers, scientists, computing and anyone in business. Maximising and minimising is a key component in anything that is designed and calculus is key to working these things out. Probability and statistics is used in everything from insurance to consumer surveys and even for you law.
Maths is an integral part of society, and just because you don't think you are using it, some situations will just seem like common sense to you, while others who have not learnt the same maths will struggle to comprehend the situation. My advice is to continue doing the highest level of maths you can handle without committing suicide, because you will find there are many things it will help you with that will just seem alien and not relevant today.
You do know there are calculus functions of trig?cowami wrote:
Meh, just pass the class then.
I actually find calculus easier than trig, tbh.
Last edited by DrunkFace (2008-02-28 18:33:35)
Yeah, but I meant overall. Rather than focusing entirely on the trig, there's also derivatives, integrals, etc (which are relatively simple, even the trig ones).DrunkFace wrote:
You do know there are calculus functions of trig?cowami wrote:
Meh, just pass the class then.
I actually find calculus easier than trig, tbh.

They help as getting a CULTURAL BACKGROUND, isn´t that what most of school years are for ?HurricaИe wrote:
I think the point jimmy was making was that he'll never use calculus or shit like that as a lawyer.
Calculus, trig etc are very important in scientific and engineering fields, but I don't see how they help as a psychologist or historian or lawyer.
shut up
you see my point right now?GunSlinger OIF II wrote:
shut up
Same over here, i got a mental block on anything that i know wont apply to situation in my life, i can do basic math...+ - * / ...but when it come to algebra...i just cant do it!jord wrote:
I'm not a fan of advanced maths either. I'm a motherfucking wizz at normal maths, like adding, multiplying as so on. I can work out simple Maths like how much money I have within seconds. I could never grasp algebra. Like I had a mental block that wouldn't let me learn useless things.
I found your mental block.Roger Lesboules wrote:
Same over here, i got a mental block on anything that i know wont apply to situation in my life, i can do basic math...+ - * / ...but when it come to algebra...i just cant do it!
Advanced math finals in 9 hours! OH Oh oh...
3930K | H100i | RIVF | 16GB DDR3 | GTX 480 | AX750 | 800D | 512GB SSD | 3TB HDD | Xonar DX | W8
GC_PaNzerFIN wrote:
Advanced math finals in 9 hours! OH Oh oh...
At first i was like,
I can figure this out
And then,
DURRRRRRH
...
Thats too much, and to think im planning to do this in a few years...
I can figure this out
And then,
DURRRRRRH
...
Thats too much, and to think im planning to do this in a few years...
its not exactly the fact its maths, its the fact you can learn new stuff and apply it