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I was studying calculus today and decided...
Today i was studying calculus and decided i should study stuff i might actually need. Any ideas for how i can take my knowledge from school last year and remember it for this upcoming year?
Comments
11 years ago
What you might actually need depends on what you might be doing. In my work (experimental particle physics), for example, I use both integral and differential calculus on a daily basis, along with complex analysis, and four-dimensional relativistic kinematics. If you major in engineering, you'll certainly be using the calculus and vector algebra. If you're just doing accounting, clerical work, or flipping burgers, you won't need any of that stuff.
Reply 11 years ago
Well engineering, computers, electronics Are my current plans.
Reply 11 years ago
Here's what you will take if you want a BS in engineering, and what you should take away from it to apply to later classes. Differential Calc. Limits, Slope, min, max, inflection points, oh heck, everything. Integral calc Everything, but mostly the trig sub stuff. Multivariable calc not a damn thing, unless you're aerospace. Diff Eq as long as you can handle 2nd order ODE's you're fine.
Reply 11 years ago
>Resists temptation to comment that he doesn't need any more BS<
Reply 11 years ago
Adrian..
Reply 11 years ago
Hehe. Sorry. :P
Reply 11 years ago
You'll need all of the above -- "calculus for science and engineering" is the usual freshman sequence. Good luck!
Reply 11 years ago
All of which will need some level of calculus.
11 years ago
Any ideas for how i can take my knowledge from school last year and remember it for this upcoming year?
Use it. There is no better way to make sure knowledge stays with you than contextualising it in a problem and having to use it. Find calculus problems, or if you can't, make some up.
I'm sure you are familiar with the usual sort of questions you are posed, look at advanced exam papers etc. to find more taxing ones. I distinctly remember thinking I knew all there was to know about quadratic equations, then being asked to derive the quadratic formula (you know the one, -b +/- square root b2 - 4ac etc) from ax2 + bx + c = 0. That bent my brain a little :)
11 years ago
I would study optimization problems using differential calculus. I used them in my planting Instructable to figure out how to maximize my plot area, while reducing the cost.