YOU’RE DOING QUADRATICS IN MIDDLE SCHOOL?’
Yes, that's standard at least in Germany
In Spain too, it's also needed in vocational training (FP1, FP2) for carpenters, electricians, plumbers, etc., because it involves necessary calculations in their work, such as trigonometry, spheronometry, vector forces, flow calculations, among others. For office workers, naturally, percentage calculations are not overcome, but even there second degree equations can arise.
Same in Brazil, though public education quality varies a lot.
Yeah it was a middle school thing in Finland too, at least in the 90's.
I did an exchange year in the US in my 2nd high school year, and I was honestly a bit surprised at how… well, simple it all was. I was a senior in the US and I'd learned just about everything they taught that wasn't specific to the US or the English language (and even some of those…) either in my 1st year in high school or in middle school.
In my experience as an American, I've learned the same thing in multiple years, we kind of just chose a point to stop at and did that for our entire god damn school year, never moving on. We could have talked about so much interesting history, but no, we need to talk about WW2 and completely gloss over most other things for the 12th year in a row
For christs sakes I was learning FRACTIONS AND DECIMALS IN MY SENIOR YEAR
I'm American, I definitely learned this stuff in 7th or 8th grade. Granted, I didn't use it past high school, and I forgot it before I finished college, but that's definitely when I learned it.
Idk what middle school really is because it's not been a thing at any of the schools I've been to, but it's definitely something you do a lot earlier than calculus. If calculus comes in in your last three or four years of high school, quadratics are what you're doing for at least two years before that.
Middle school is usually grades 7-8
It's the step between primary and secondary school that a lot of countries have, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_school
In Hong Kong too, though the dividing is a bit different. High school is like the last 3 years of secondary school, and middle school is like the 3 years in primary school and 3 years in secondary school.
We also have vector and matrix on top of calculus in high school if you take the elective course. The compulsory part contains geometry, complex, probability, etc.
If you want, we have some samples. I took module 2. Compulsory Module 1: Calculus + Statistics Module 2: Algebra + Calculus
Yeah seriously WTF, I didn't even learn basic Algebra until freshmen year of high school! We never even got to the math with the fancy letters in it. I have no idea what those cursive f, d, and w characters mean.
Cursive big f: "integration", which can be interpreted in two ways. One is "area under the curve" for some part of the curve. Other is "average value of a part of the curve multiplied by the size of that part of the curve". Curve being the function, the graph, f(x), however you wanna call it.
Normal d: "differentiation" (from difference), infinitely small change. Usually used in ratios: df/dx means how much does f(x) change relative to x when you change x a little bit.
Cursive d: "partial", same as normal d but used when working with higher dimensional data like 3D. Can also mean "boundary" of something. Example: boundary of a volume in 3D, like wrapping paper around a box. Or, boundary of such wrapping paper itself, if it's not perfectly connecting.
Omega: just a Greek letter used as a variable, in this case there's a history of it being used as a sort of "density" variable in the field of differential geometry. The college row in the meme is kind of translating the high school row from a function to a 3D volume.
It's just calculus where admittedly my own education stopped but it's still very helpful in finding values in real-world things like change of value in time. I still hope to one day develop a working knowledge of it, myself. u/...mir below me did a good job of summarizing the two main introductory concepts in much the same way i've read others simplify and describe the subject in classic 100+ yr old books like "Calculus Made Easy by Sylvanus Thompson." I suspect it's not as intimidating as it seems once a person gets past some basic fundamental concepts.
Anecdotal, but I grew up in the US and I learned this in middle school as a gifted student. Others have mentioned it depends on the state/curriculum. I imagine in other countries they also divide their students between standard/honors/gifted-type tiers; they certainly do in the Netherlands, which is where I did my graduate studies.
I learned algebra around the same stage of my education. But to be fair, my parents were spending money to keep me learning accelerated math.
In senior year at my high school depending on what math track you go in you can be doing AP Calculus
My middle school student worked on them last year
I did advanced mathematics and chose physics as one of my elective subjects in school. Nowadays, I do a lot of work based around analytics and forecasting.
"We need to find the average of this."
"That's easy. I'll do some more advanced stuff to really dial in the accuracy."
"Awesome. What's the timeframe?"
looks at million row dataset "To find the average? Like a month. Some of these numbers are mispelled words... Why are all these blank?"
"Oh, you'll have to read this 45 page document that outlines the default values."
And that's how roffice maths works. Lots and lots of if conditions, query merges, and meetings with other teams trying to understand why they entered in the thing they entered. By the time the data wrangling phase is complete, you give zero fucks about doing more than supplying the average.
Oh, sorry the 45 page document is for something else. The only person who understands this dataset is Dave and he was made redundant 5 years ago. Anyway, can you get this done today?
Dang, I was really hoping this would be one of those stories that goes like:
"How long will that take?"
"It's a lot of data...like a month?" (But I actually wrote a Python script that compiles and formats it perfectly in like 5 minutes.)
"You're such a hard worker!"
Shhhh
Yup this is every job now. Wrangling numbers. The actual job or calculation could be done in days if less. But dealing with dirty information and playing detective which isnt even part of it is the sink hole of every job right now.
If Timmy has 45 pages to read on a bus traveling an average speed of 35 mph with an mean stop distance being 0.7 kms how many stops will Timmy pass before this fucking meeting ends ?
Why do I need to know what Timmy is up to, and how much he is reading?
That's software development for you. Why is that weird value there? Because some guy, at some point, had checked for that and somehow it's still relevant.
I know of a system that churns through literally millions of transactions representing millions of Euros every day, and their interface has load bearing typos (because Germans in the 90s were really bad at the Englishs).
I think the solution is 42
Geez, that reminds me of a former colleague that, when asked for "the numbers," would just send screenshots of tables in the ERP system instead of exporting them to a spreadsheet. What's even worse, usually a lot of values were plain wrong, on one occasion more than half of them.
What is the advanced stuff you can do if you don't have garbage data?
That's a tough question in analytics lol
You mean mathematical examples? Or like examples of analytical outcomes? Keeping in mind the more analytics-heavy, the more it involves lots of sources, patterns, variables, and scenarios, but I could provide just a single example.
Edit: Oh, wait. If you're referring to just averages... In forecasting I prefer, as a minimum, to do weighted averaging. This is where I'll have a certain time period of cumulated historical data that provides a more stable base, however more weight is applied the more recent (relevant) the data is. This shows a more realistic average than a single snapshot of data that could be an outlier.
But speaking of outliers, I'd prefer to also apply weight to outlying data points that may skew the output, especially if sample size is low. Like 1, 2, 2, 76, 3, 2. That 76 obviously skews the "average".
Above that, depending on what's required, I'll use a proper method. Like if someone wants to know on average how many trucks they need a day, I'll utilise Poisson instead to get the number of trucks they need each day to meet service requirements, including acceptable queuing, during the day. Like how the popular Erlang formulas utilise Poisson distribution and can kind of handle 90% of BAU S&D loading in day to day operations with a couple clicks.
That's a basic example, but as data cleanliness increases, those better steps can be taken. Could be like 25 average last Wed vs. 20 weighted average over last month vs. 16 actually needed if optimised correctly.
Oh, and if there's data on each truck's mileage, capacity, availability, traffic density in areas over the day, etc..obbioisly it can be even more optimised. Though I'd only go that far if things were consistent/routine. Script it, automate it, set and forget and have the day's forecast appear in the warehouse each morning.
And yet such simple things are often incredibly hard to get done because of poor data governance or systems.
I was denied a mathematics education, for real. I can't even do long division, nevermind that squiggly F shit. I thought that stuff was only for astrophysicists.
I want to learn basic maths, but I'm in a 'learned helplessness' mindset where I can't even get through basic sums and equations intended for children (I'm old as fuck now).
I was diagnosed with autism a few years back, which kinda made no sense. I would have expected rainman powers, but numbers just don't jive with my cunt of a brain. Maths is as inscrutable to me as people's faces or social cues.
Khan academy can solve this for you, if you want.
+1
I was going to suggest Khan Academy. You can start at any grade level and work your way up.
OP take your time and sit down with pencil and paper.
don't let yourself get discouraged, math isn't everything ^^
Just go on Khan academy and do a lesson a day. It will take time(years) but you'll learn.
If you actually want to learn maths (that is, if you're not just venting), you could try to ask for help in dedicated math or teaching communities.
The problem with teaching stuff you know, is to put yourself in a position of actually not knowing anything. I'm a software developer and had to teach some apprentices a few years ago, and it was really eye opening to me to see how much assumptions about the apprentice's knowledge I made even though I thought I made my explanation "basic".
It's quite possible that all the tutorials you've read are either for literal children, so they just don't work for your adult brain, or they're intended for adults and assume too much.
On a personal note: how did you get into that situation? Were you home schooled?
I'm autistic too and I had to relearn math as an adult. Now I know calculus and advanced mathematics.
I can go find some book recommendations, but when I was first learning I really got a lot out of watching The Organic Chemistry Tutor.
I did an honors math+cs degree. I'm pretty good at advanced math. I never learned long division. Don't feel bad about that.
(In case any other mathy people read this and wonder how I could understand ring theory without Euclid's division algorithm, relax)
I kinda miss doing those relatively simple physics probems like finding how far something goes based on velocity and shit.
Most of the math I do at work is related to compound interest. Of all the math I believe the general public should understand, the concept of how paying interest to others is a total screw would get my top vote.
I have a co-worker who took out a car loan last week at, wait for it, FIFTY THREE PERCENT INTEREST! No concept of what that was costing her. She could only see, "I can afford the monthly payment."
(1 + r)^n and its friend 1/(1 + r)^n have been the two most important concepts in work and personal life that I've ever learned and applied.
That is usury. That cannot be legal? Oh, no, I just checked, wow, usury laws are weak af.
Usury was indeed the term that immediately came to mind.
53%?!
Sounds like one of those shitty used car joints “no credit, no problem” that you sign your life away for a mediocre car.
wow. my middle school algebra was weak
Don't feel too bad. This meme appears be aimed at people who specialized in advanced mathematics in college which are a small minority.
As an actuarie this meme is kinda true but mostly false. I had classes on some advanced maths like ordinary differential equations that have never use on my day to day job. But, the actuarial sciences math in collage was elementary school level of abstraction compared with the real world. There's still a lot of excel tho, but I'm cool and use python (pandas) wherever I can.
AcTuArIe
Same here, I still do a lot of complex problem solving and modeling but excel/python handles a lot of the dirty work for me.
This is a tangent but, I dunno why we teach students how to solve ODEs. Computers can do these stuffs perfectly fine. What they can't do is the actual understanding and analysis.
As an engineer i literally use all of it daily.
I recently had to do linear algebra for the first time ever irl. I’ve been out of school for ~15 years. I was trying to make a rotation matrix to transform some points in 2D space. It took me a very long time to remember how it’s performed yet alone “transformation matrix” which is something I’d never heard of before. I got my code all working and was so proud, then later found that one of the r packages I was using could have just solved it all automatically :/
You guys still use math? The most I get to do is centering a picture in PowerPoint
(Thankfully I will soon be going to do real work but man was that a weird little diversion)
How the hell is "average price" useful?
Thats like buying potatoes and pork chops and saying the average price is $8.75. Technically true but practically useless.
£7.99 for a stapler?!
tbf that might be a really good stapler, which can confidently chomp a hefty wodge of pages.
i came here to comment on two quid for apparently, a single fucking highlighter - the real robbery here
What's the college one mean?
Stokes' theorem. Almost the same thing as the high school one. It generalizes the fundamental theorem of calculus to arbitrary smooth manifolds. In the case that M is the interval [a, x] and ω is the differential 1-form f(t)dt on M, one has dω = f'(t)dt and ∂M is the oriented tuple {+x, -a}. Integrating f(t)dt over a finite set of oriented points is the same as evaluating at each point and summing, with negatively-oriented points getting a negative sign. Then Stokes' theorem as written says that f(x) - f(a) = integral from a to x of f'(t) dt.
Almost the same thing 😏
Same as high school but fancier?
I use trig heavily at work.
It always gets mez the older I get I better realize how Jank my education was,
Elementary school taught me addition, Middle School Taught me multiplication Junior High Taught me pre-algebra College is teaching me addition, but with common core
One day, maybe for my bachelor's I'll learn some of those funny math symbols.....but not today
We did a lot of straight algebra in highschool, I don't need the exact skill but its boosted my abstract thinking a lot which helps in other things
Lucky, my school only did gay algebra and look at me now 😩
But have you found x 😁
Real Math used at work is only for the smart kids
So fucking real
As an Applied Mathematician I feel both seen and attacked by this. At least I get to play with novel analysis because the company I work for is pretty niche.
