# How much math do you do on a regular basis (for work and otherwise)? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 14, 2012, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840 "2012-02-14T19:16:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/41 "2012-02-15T01:50:50Z")
I have analysts who do the math for me, I provide the guidance and insights. But they don’t know i love maths and know a lot more than I let on… ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/42 "2012-02-15T02:42:54Z")
I’m wrapping up a Ph.D. in mathematics, so… in some sense I do very advanced mathematics on as frequent a basis as possible. But, apart from when I have had to teach the relevant courses, this doesn’t imply that I have any professional need to think about calculus or trigonometry or logarithms or whatnot on a regular basis. There is an idea that mathematics is linearly ordered in a hierarchy of “advancedness”\*, but it isn’t quite true; in an alternate world, with alternate educational goals, there would be no difficulty in putting many of the supposedly advanced topics I work with into the standard high school or college curriculum (e.g., “order theory”, which is no more complex than your typical algebra course and requires no further prerequisites either). But, of course, the vast majority of people currently get by just fine without in-depth familiarity with any of the mathematics I work on, just as they would without studying trigonometry, calculus, or logarithms. The main reason to think about them isn’t because they will be of frequent practical use, but simply because you may find it interesting to think about them, and appreciate the abstract conceptual understanding they grant you. (Of course, you may not find it interesting to think about them, in which case, there’s really no compelling need to do so…) [\*: What makes me advanced as a mathematician isn’t so much that I know “advanced” mathematical topics as that I just have an awful lot of _experience_ doing mathematics and have already been exposed to a wide base of simple but frequently useful ideas and their relations, granting me a greater level of comfort with abstraction and a more sophisticated understanding of the practice of mathematics than expected from someone with less experience.] ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/43 "2012-02-15T03:50:17Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > I’m an insurance actuary. I do math all day, but most of it is simple–I add, subtract, multiply, divide, and occasionally raise a number to a power. _However_, to understand and explain the results of those operations, and to determine whether models are working correctly, requires a fairly sophisticated understanding of probability and statistics, and sometimes simple calculus. That was me a few years ago, but now I’m managing the actuaries doing those jobs. So my actual use of maths on a day-to-day basis is much less than it used to be. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/44 "2012-02-15T03:52:28Z")
My college minor was math. I worked in accounting for several years. Now I am retired and use math a great deal in knitting, although it is mostly simple arithmetic. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/45 "2012-02-15T05:03:57Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] I’m surprised to find that my fellow techies often do _not_ use math regularly, especiaaly those into computers and IT. [/QUOTE] I use much more basic math in my hobbies than I do at work. Stuff like dividing a board into six equal lengths sounds simple enough, and it is, so long as you remember to factor in kerf loss (if your blade is 1/10" wide, and you make five cuts, you’ve turned half an inch of that board into sawdust) At work, the most complicated math we do is figuring out what time it is elsewhere, and realizing “Oh, it’s 12:15 there. He’s probably at lunch.” The tellers certainly need to know basic money math so they can make change and balance their drawers, but for everything else, that’s why we have mainframes. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/46 "2012-02-15T06:56:33Z")
A lot. Junior high math teacher. ---
**Author:** ![Enlightening\_Meditation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecc23a/32.png) [@Enlightening\_Meditation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enlightening_Meditation)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/47 "2012-02-15T07:31:35Z")
Currently, I calculate averages of measurement data sets and convert units (joules to foot-pounds, psi to MPa, etc) quite often. Occasionally, I’ll get lucky and have reason to do some standard deviation (for QC) or trigonometry (for measuring distances). My use of math was at its apex in engineering school. I was always comfortable with math until reaching 4th semester calculus which was a bit too esoteric for me. My work now is mostly visually oriented with some obtained data and lots of report writing. My English skills are used much more now by comparison to college. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/48 "2012-02-15T07:32:37Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > But, apart from when I have had to teach the relevant courses, this doesn’t imply that I have any professional need to think about calculus or trigonometry or logarithms or whatnot on a regular basis. I should say, I _do_ think about all of these on a semi-regular basis, because I like to keep re-examining everything I know with new eyes (and also, because they come up a lot in places such as SDMB discussions of math…). They’re not important for my day-to-day research, though. (Naturally, others, working in different areas of math, _would_ need these for their bread and butter) ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/49 "2012-02-15T08:39:34Z")
As a programmer I sometimes have to write code that calculates something. Usually a percentage or an insurance rate. Anytime we update Insurance Rates I have to check the payroll reports and select several people to hand calculate their premiums and confirm payroll did it correctly. Life Insurance rates can take awhile because they have rate tables based on age and their coverage which is based on salary. I select several employees from various ages to hand check. Our Benefits Manager works closely with me whenever we have to verify rate changes. Needless to say we always hand check the big bosses’ premiums after any rate change. If payroll is going to screw up we don’t want it to be the big bosses check. Thank goodness most of our insurance rates are pretty stable. Medical & Dental rates often change annually. Life Insurance, Disability, Opt Life may only change every two or three years. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/50 "2012-02-15T08:47:14Z")
I got As in AP calc and again in college calc, and all the required math up to that point (algebra, geometry, trig, pre-calc). But the only math I do now is multiplication/division to calculate average weekly wages at work, and some recreational statistics for gaming (I play WoW). Oh yeah, and calculating min/max tips for food delivery. But I use a calculator for everything, since it’s as simple as typing _windows key, R, calc._ I still remember basic calculus (integrating/deriving) off the top of my head, and I’m sure with a determined effort I could regain a lot more of it. But it’s fading more every year. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/51 "2012-02-15T09:29:04Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I’m surprised to find that my fellow techies often do _not_ use math regularly, especiaaly those into computers and IT. Why? Most business programming is just glueing existing libraries together, or fetching data from one database, massaging it, then either displaying it to a user or putting it back in another database. There’s not much scope for abstract mathematics when you’re writing ticketing or stock inventory software. ---
**Author:** ![Acid\_Lamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Acid\_Lamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acid_Lamp)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/52 "2012-02-15T12:05:45Z")
Just Basic skills. Addition, subtraction, some algebra and basic geometry. Never had need or use for any higher end maths. You can do pretty much everything in the real world with those skills. It will take longer, but you can get there. ---
**Author:** ![DrumBum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e79b87/32.png) [@DrumBum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrumBum)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/53 "2012-02-15T12:35:17Z")
A bit of algebra, trigonometry, and calculus. The vast majority of the heavy lifting ( FFT, fluid flow equations, physics, etc. ) is done by the programs someone else wrote. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/54 "2012-02-15T12:48:39Z")
> [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#): > > Why? Most business programming is just glueing existing libraries together, or fetching data from one database, massaging it, then either displaying it to a user or putting it back in another database. There’s not much scope for abstract mathematics when you’re writing ticketing or stock inventory software. Yeah, but the folks I’m talking about are in Engineering or the Sciences. You’d think they’d be using math all the ime, but when I asked them about it, they told me it had been ages since they’d performed an integral or anythi ng else involving calculus. My wife, Pepper Mill, has problems with math (she blames it in part on dyslexia), and was seriously pissed that she was required to take “Business Math” in her college that involved calculus. She couldn’t see the point\*, and she was floundering. Her professor took pity on her, suggested an alternative series of courses (not involving calculus), gave her a passing grade, and made her promise not to take any calculus in the future. \*Nor can I, to tell you the truth. The only application your average businessperson would be likely to encounter is antything involving compound interest, as far as I can see, and that’s easily handled with canned software, or even tables. ---
**Author:** ![zut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zut/32/2875_2.png) [@zut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zut)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/55 "2012-02-15T13:02:54Z")
I’m a mechanical engineer doing research and development, and had the standard college-level technical math courses: a year-and-a-half of calculus/differential equations, plus some statistics and numerical methods. I use high-school-level methamatics - algebra, geometry, trig - all the time. I do a fair amount of simple calculus: integration over time, finding slopes or local maxima. Much of this is numerical, but I’ll occasionally actually work up the integration/differentiation. I use simple statistics often, and more complex statistics rarely. I’ll also occasionally work through a differential equation. I was also going to post something almost exactly like this, but **MaddyStrut** beat me to it: > [@MaddyStrut](#): > > However, having a good understanding of how numbers describe data is more important than being able to do the calculations. At a basic level, I need to know what the various averages and distributions tell me and what they don’t tell me. At a very simple level, I need to know why getting an average rating of 3 in a review can mean different things depending on whether you get mostly 3’s or whether you get a lot of 1’s and a lot of 5’s but few scores in the middle. What you do in each situation is going to be very different. She’s talking about statistics, but the idea is more widely applicable, I think. Mathematics is used to describe phenomena in the real world, and if you’re investigating the real world, it’s useful to understand how things ought to be described. Which variables are significant in a process? Are they independent? Can their effects be seperated? How smooth are the functions describing the process? Are there local maxima? Why? Those kinds of questions. A significant proportion of my job is looking at data and asking, “does this make sense?” Does our conception of how this thing works match the actual numbers? If it doesn’t, is it an error? Or is it telling us something new, and if so, what? I’m not necessarily _doing_ any mathematics here, and when I am it’s probably not a differential equation. But I am _using_ math, and my understanding of how things work, both on the physical and mathematical level. You see the occasional thread asking why on earth mathematics are useful in everyday life, or at all. (Not that I think _this_ thread falls into that category.) Part of the answer is that _using_ math is not necessarily the same as _doing_ math. Mathematics is a tool to help you better make sense of the world, and the best part of the utility is the part that becomes intuitive, rather than the part that requires pencil and paper. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/56 "2012-02-15T13:38:19Z")
I do a fair bit of high-level risk analysis so mostly basic statistics and creating fun formulae in Excel. I learned trig and calculus in college but haven’t used them since, so I’d be hard-pressed to use them today without some serious cramming. I can still do basic math in my head reasonably quickly though. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/57 "2012-02-15T13:47:56Z")
I have a Comp Sci degree and went as far as Calc I and II. Currently I manage an IT department including some troubleshooting and occasional coding. Once in a blue moon I may have to do something involving binary or hex (both very common when dealing with computers) but even that is rare anymore for me. I haven’t used calculus since college. Still, part of college is learning to use your brain, learning to think in abstract ways, and learning how to learn difficult concepts so, especially in science and engineering, learning things like calculus does have a definite purpose even if you’ll never use it in real life. And of course it’s always possible that you’ll end up following a career path where you _will_ use it. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/58 "2012-02-15T16:00:05Z")
I do a little bit of trig in my job, a little matix stuff. The most important thing is that I have the CONCEPT that a problem could be solved using math. 99% of the people I work with just throw up their hands at many problems as unsolvable, then they go looking for someone else to fix things. They often end up at my desk. Extremely simple example: How does a 1000x2000 pixel image (think aerial photo) fit into that little window on the computer? It is shocking to me that people who are supposed to understand about maps and geography think that computers just magially know how to scale images to whatever precsion they happen to be thinking of. When it doesn’t “look right” they are completely helpless to understand why. Not remembering the details of trig or calculus is very different from not even being able to imagine what such tools can do. ---
**Author:** ![HookerChemical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/278dde/32.png) [@HookerChemical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HookerChemical)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/59 "2012-02-15T17:53:14Z")
I went through Calculus III and Differential Equations I in college, as well as Statistics and Probability for Scientists and Engineers (as opposed to the lightweight stuff the social studies people go through). My degree is in chemical engineering. I use algebra through pre-calculus (first order decay and series) daily as an environmental consultant/engineer. The most important thing I ever learned in math was how to work with units and do unit conversions. This probably sounds trivial, but you’d be amazed by how many people mess up conversions or simply don’t know how to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/60 "2012-02-15T18:37:17Z")
I’m an EE, currently working as a software engineer, and I got through multidimensional calculus in college well enough. I use occasional bits of math in my work, but rarely anything more than a bit of boolean algebra. (Among other things, I design structures that calculate phone rates, and yes, some of them are complicated enough that actual boolean algebra is the easiest way to analyze them.) I use much more outside of work–trig when I’m building things, algebra when working on electronics, half-forgotten fragments of statistics when analyzing game issues. I use calculus seldom enough that I usually have to look stuff up when I do. My natural inclination is to turn tasks into math word problems. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840.md?page=4)