# 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:** 19\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/61 "2012-02-15T19:00:31Z")
I took an advanced math class in HS, got as far as pre-calculus, and took a statistics course in college. I have had some use for the statistics, but the most I use now is basic arithmetic, and that I use in my job every day. With a caclulator. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/62 "2012-02-15T19:05:22Z")
Just last evening someone was confused at the results he was getting, and I demonstrated with some very simple probability that it was entirely as expected. I produce a lot of fairly simple statistics, but I’ve got programs that do that for me, and product the graphs. I’m working on trending right now. And last year I actually got to use some graph theory for something! Made my week. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/63 "2012-02-15T21:58:38Z")
I did high school calculus and stats. Now, as a pilot, I multiply by three, divide by three, and do basic addition and subtraction. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/64 "2012-02-15T22:35:23Z")
I’m a PhD student in pseudoscience. My main research interests are in game theory. I use calculus, algebra, and probability to solve models and what I suppose would be called set theory, discrete math, and formal logic to write proofs. I moonlight as a statistician, so I have some experience using statistical models to say stuff about data. Often I even have to code these models myself. I actually have pretty lousy math _skills_. I get frustrated easily, am not a very visual/spatial thinker, and make buckets of unforced errors. I can fix most of these things with more practice, but life is very short. I do have what people in my field would call “substantive political intuition” and I happen to choose problems that other political scientists find quite interesting. That at least partly offsets my technical weaknesses and occasionally imprecise thinking. It’s pretty striking just how much math I actually do for someone who was never a “math person” growing up. That’s a terrible typology. The sooner it’s done away with, the better. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2012, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/65 "2012-02-15T23:42:34Z")
Lately I use math every day. I have to manually calculate our client demographic. I also have to calculate staffing needs for annual planning and am responsible for setting my team’s sales goals and tracking how we’re doing. It’s pretty basic math, but math nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/66 "2012-02-16T01:51:24Z")
I have degrees in Electrical Engineering and Physics with a math minor so I took integral and differential calculus, differential equations (including partial differential equations), and also got some pure math (topology). I still use some of the calculus at work, but mostly I use it for fun (answering questions about math and physics on the SDMB, analyzing the physics in SF stories and giving talks about physics at various locations). ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/67 "2012-02-16T05:41:27Z")
I have a college minor in math. It makes me very much more efficient at my job than Mr. Joe Average. Daily. It is helpful in my personal life too. Pretty much a win to learn math IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/68 "2012-02-16T13:28:16Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > I have a college minor in math. > > It makes me very much more efficient at my job than Mr. Joe Average. Daily. Please specify. Does it make you more efficient than Mr. Joe Mean, or Mr. Joe Median? ---
**Author:** ![cards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@cards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cards)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/69 "2012-02-16T20:51:27Z")
> [@BlinkingDuck](#): > > Huge heaping gobs of Math. > > I am a statistician. 😃 As am I. The most advanced is probably using logistic regression to predict who has the highest probability to respond to an offer. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/70 "2012-02-17T05:06:01Z")
The highest math I’m trained in would be the stuff in Calc II or Algebra II in college, I guess. Calc II involved such beauties as systems of 17 differential equations with 17 variables (our calculators could solve up to 16x16 by the matrix method), as well as a bunch of different Transforms; Alg II involved the kind of equations used in Quantum Physics. Basic topology to be able to write topological matrices into Quantum Chemistry programs. Most of the math I do regularly is either basic arithmetic, or stats (most commonly, assymetrical continuous functions, although I expect my next job to involve lots of Gaussians); also some logic functions for data cleansing. I use the basic arithmetic in my billing (well, that involves \*, + and %) and when shopping. Also, I’ve downloaded a few free games for my nephew into my mother’s computer which have been an absolute hit with the whole family; I’ve been playing [TuxMath](http://tux4kids.alioth.debian.org/tuxmath/) both to demonstrate it for my mother and to practice with the numeric keypad, which I rarely use… that’s the most mental math I’d done since I first got hands on a calculator. We’ve hid all the calculators at Mom’s because when the Kidlet had to do his math homework and wasn’t sure of the result, he’d grab a calculator. He’s supposed to be learning his addition and substraction, not how to poke buttons 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Nocturne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9fc348/32.png) [@Nocturne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nocturne)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/71 "2012-02-17T05:20:17Z")
I’ve taken through college Cal II. I use a little bit of mathematics in my job at the bank, but it’s an entry-level job so there’s not a lot of need for extremely good math skills (but the attention to detail that’s important in maths is paramount for the position). I use a lot more math in my current degree program. I’m double-majoring in Finance and Economics, and doing some extra work in economic game theory, so I use quite a bit of the math I learned. It’s fun…but after I get this degree I think I’m going for an MBA/MA in Global Policy–so I’ll still use math, just less. Whew. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/72 "2012-02-17T05:21:39Z")
One of the problems I find quite frequently at work involves stats; specifically, what causes the problem is the amount of people who have never heard of any continuous probability function other than the Gaussian bell curve, and who either never got its usability limits explained properly or never understood them. They keep trying to use Gaussian-bell-based Six Sigma analysis on products they make less than 15 times/year, and on variables such as “Impurities: 0-500 ppb”. No, you can’t use a Gaussian bell curve to properly describe the probability distribution of a variable whose target value equals its forced-by-Physics lower limit rather than the center of its acceptable range, and for which you’re lucky to have a sample size = 12. You can plug your data into a Gaussian bell, but it won’t work right; you don’t have a symmetric distribution, you don’t want one, you don’t have enough n to use a Gaussian and the nature of your processes means that if you wait until n is large enough you won’t be able to do any statistical analysis for several years after introducing a new process - you need results faster than that. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/73 "2012-02-17T10:32:41Z")
> [@Maeglin](#): > > I’m a PhD student in pseudoscience. In, uh, what now? ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/74 "2012-02-17T15:08:05Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Please specify. Does it make you more efficient than Mr. Joe Mean, or Mr. Joe Median? LOL I did want to clarify that I don’t use very advanced math for my job. I do find myself using concepts from calculus, statistics, set theory to understand/imagine things though, and I find myself playing mind games with number theory sometimes when I’m bored. ---
**Author:** ![figure9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@figure9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/figure9)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/75 "2012-02-18T03:33:36Z")
The highest math I was trained in was analytic geometry, but I barely passed that. I’m kinda a half mechanic, half engineer. I use a lot of linear equations, convert units all the time and express numbers as percentages. ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/76 "2012-02-18T05:11:44Z")
I went through high school calculus. I can’t remember a single bit of it and have never used it outside the classroom. Nowadays I do only the simple math of everyday life, mostly arithmetic. You know, calculating tips, figuring out how many more trips I can get on the Metro before I have to reload my SmarTrip card, making sure I’m not draining my bank account or maxing out my credit card, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/77 "2012-02-18T15:37:46Z")
I initially read the thread title as asking “How much meth…” ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/78 "2012-02-18T16:16:43Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > In, uh, what now? He says later he’s in PoliSci. You know, one of those which put “science” in the name but not necessarily in the mindset. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2012, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840/79 "2012-02-18T16:56:03Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > I initially read the thread title as asking “How much meth…” Well? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-math-do-you-do-on-a-regular-basis-for-work-and-otherwise/612840.md?page=3)