<p>From Sorghum:</p>
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<p>Princeton, Stanford and Harvard</p>
<p>Fortunately, I have found that I can learn/relearn relatively quickly. One year I decided that I wanted to learn the theory of finance and was able to pick up the textbooks and figure out what was going on (e.g., CAPM, Black-Scholes, fixed income modeling, etc.). I am much farther away from knowing differential equations than I was then, but I didn’t have any problem picking it up.</p>
<p>I was a math major, and I remember odd bits - like some abstract algebra. But I was going over some ACT problems and realized that trig had vanished from my memory. I remember the terminology but not how to do anything.</p>
<p>However, I was happy that I actually got a calculus joke that my friend told me recently (I think it’s an old one):</p>
<pre><code> "Two mathematicians were having dinner in a restaurant, arguing about the average mathematical knowledge of the American public. One mathematician claimed that this average was woefully inadequate, the other maintained that it was surprisingly high.
“I’ll tell you what,” said the cynic. “Ask that waitress a simple math question. If she gets it right, I’ll pick up dinner. If not, you do.”
He then excused himself to visit the men’s room, and the other called the waitress over.
“When my friend returns,” he told her, “I’m going to ask you a question, and I want you to respond ‘one third x cubed.’ There’s twenty bucks in it for you.” She agreed.
The cynic returned from the bathroom and called the waitress over. “The food was wonderful, thank you,” the mathematician started. “Incidentally, do you know what the integral of x squared is?”
The waitress looked pensive, almost pained. She looked around the room, at her feet, made gurgling noises, and finally said, “Um, one third x cubed?”
So the cynic paid the check. The waitress wheeled around, walked a few paces away, looked back at the two men, and muttered under her breath, “…plus a constant.”
</code></pre>
<p>BA in American Studies & MBA. Solid through Algebra I, and then D & S stopped asking for any help. Believe I could get back most stuff with a little reviewing/reading.</p>
<p>^
LOL</p>
<p>BS - took Calc I in college.<br>
I remember all the basic math. Calc and trig - not so much - it was over 30 years ago. I was surprised how much it would come back to me when my kids were taking geometry and algebra II in high school.
I am happy to say I can do percentages - unlike my MBA boss.<br>
Math taught me how to solve problems. I was good at it and I think I am pretty good at it today - the idea of attacking a problem logically and solving it step by step.</p>
<p>Two thoughts:</p>
<p>I have a BS in engr and 30+ years in the business: I do all my math using a $10 four function calculator.</p>
<p>I was a substitute teacher for a while (between jobs) and did teach some calc classes. I had to really study the material to make any contribution to the kids education. I had no problem with middle school math though.</p>
<p>Took calculus and stats. Use basic algebra and HS geometry, basic stats. That’s all you need in most professional jobs–even those in most finance. Wish I could remember more probability theory–for gambling purposes only. Most advanced math is useless in real life unless you are an engineer or work in the science/math related fields. English, writing and speaking skills are more important.</p>
<p>I work in engineering and bringing in a math problem into the office can be dangerous to the productivity of the group. I once saw a problem on another forum and spent about 80 hours on it as I wanted a rigorous answer. I wound up using a translated math paper from the late 1700s as part of the answer as it had some mathematics that I couldn’t find anywhere else.</p>
<p>Why should it be surprising that former math majors don’t remember much beyond basic math? Math is essentially a language; if not used, the ability to remember it atrophies. </p>
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<p>This refers to skills that are used in everyday life, like arithmetics, basic geometry and basic algebra. Do most people remember even the plot-lines or the names of characters of novels they read many years ago (but have not re-read)?</p>
<p>I’m not much help for DS in math so I help out as needed with other courses. DH, on the other hands, is a math professor so he’s a huge source of “live in help.” DS has not fallen far from the father tree. He successfully completed Linear Algebra last year and is now taking Multivariable Calculus as a senior. 800/800 of the SAT I and SAT II (Math 2) tests.</p>
<p>I have a Masters in Applied Stats (and use them at work). DW has an UG Math degree with a Masters in Stats. Most of her time has been spent helping children in school so she would have to pull out the books to refresh. I agree that math is a language that needs to be used. That’s why I’m still fresh in Algebra - use it every day.</p>
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<p>LOL! Pretty funny.</p>
<p>I don’t remember much detail, but I usually recognize problems. </p>
<p>My BIL is taking his first Calc class and brought up delta/epsilon bands. I can’t remember learning abuot delta/epsilon bands, and I took 4 semesters of Calc plus DiffEq. Are they teaching something new, or did I just completely forget about this?? They’re skipping this topic in kid’s calc class right now - meaning?</p>
<p>DD took some linear programming in HS - something I never had. But we did tons and tons of proofs (30+ years ago) and constructions in Geometry. Kid did very few.</p>
<p>I work in the finance area so every working day is spent in numbers, but nothing I need any calculus, abstract algebra or number theory for. The few times my kids asked for help in HS math, I was able to help, but they are good in math so didn’t need much.</p>
<p>delta/epison bands don’t ring a bell with me! I’ll have to ask my son if he’s learning that.</p>
<p>Just for the purposes of making this thread representative of the full CC group, I’ll mention that I use virtually all the math I learned in college (partial differential equations, complex variable theory, abstract algebra, analysis) within any given month, and that I’ve had to learn and use quite a bit more since then. . . . but am I sensing that my presence is not welcome in this thread? :)</p>
<p>I’d expect no less from a resident of Hilbert space.
I’ve forgotten the Latin and Ancient Greek I learned in high school. Lack of use on a daily basis.</p>
<p>Delta/epsilon would normally be taught in an honors/theory course. Pretty rare for undergrad courses these days.</p>
<p>You would find delta/epsilon coverage in Apostol, Salas and Hille and Spivak under Limits. Stewart (a more mainstream book) covers it in an appendix. I assume other books cover it in an appendix or not at all.</p>
<p>I have about a dozen calculus books on my shelf so it’s easy to check.</p>
<p>I started a “What’s so great about calculus?” thread, once. This thread is illustrating my initial point there.</p>
<p>BA Literature major, JD, tax/M&A lawyer. I took math in high school up through what would now be Calculus AB (5 on the exam), and then nothing in college. I remember practically no math that I learned after 8th grade, with the caveat that my 8th grade math seems to have covered a lot of what now goes as Algebra II and basic plan geometry. I never had a calculator with more than basic functions, and I could derive all the financial formulae I ever needed and do them on the simple calculator (present value stuff, and calculating annuities, IRRs), but now I use Excel for that. I use Excel a lot.</p>
<p>I was actually pretty good at math, although I never saw the point of most of it. But I still like thinking things through as formulas, and I do that often. (Too often; it sometimes annoys other people.)</p>
<p>I had a smattering of Econ in college, without learning any math for it, and in law school and beyond I read a fair amount of economics-oriented articles, and hung out with people who knew what they were doing. I can understand what people are doing with their mathematical appendices with a little work, but I could not do anything like find an error or think critically about it. I know some finance theory – I can explain how Black-Scholes works, for example, without being able actually to do the math. If I had my life to live over again, I would probably try to learn some calculus-based statistics and some game theory.</p>
<p>A few years ago, I took a test version of our state’s proposed standard math exam for kids finishing 10th grade, supposedly covering Algebra I and Geometry I. It was an hour-long test, and I finished it in 20 minutes (would have been less if I had remembered more of my multiple-choice test-taking skills and not done irrelevant work on many of the questions), and scored 96%. My then-11th-grade son took it at the same time. He finished in 8 minutes, but only got a 94.</p>
<p>Started out in Engineering, bailed into Political Science. Depends on how you mean “use.” I could still probably teach Calc I and would be totally at sea in Calc III…steep drop-off. I am deadly at analyzing poll numbers and drawing appropriate conclusions that seem to elude many, including the alleged pros in the media. (In the past two cycles, I’ve missed exactly one U.S. Senate race. In 2008, I got 49 of 51 states plus DC correct, flipping two states with the same number of EV’s.)</p>
<p>Otoh, the math <em>mindset</em> has been very useful and I use it often.
A client who works in a technical field once started arguing with me about the pricing of a home in front of the listing agent, citing the price per square foot. I simply said, “Price per square foot is a non-linear function with respect to relative size of properties.” He got it in one and moved on…I think the listing agent was still blinking three weeks later.</p>
<p>100% of everything math</p>