Posted: 4/2/2009 9:35:50 PM EDT
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Ok, so I'm sitting here doing my math home work for my class… math 91 (prerequisite for the math class for my degree) and we are learning about exponents.
My question is where in the real world would one use an exponent? I personally find it a waste of my time, but I would like the views of the more mature, and the more experienced than I. Please help me to understand that I'm not wasting aprox $600 and an hr of every week day of my life for nothing. |
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I’m just going to clover park technical college, for my 2 year automotive repair degree. I already did all the auto motive classes, and now I'm just doing my core classes for the paper.
And I guess if I studied real hard, and got a high enough score of the compass test I would not have to do math 91, but being that I'm not the brightest, I don’t know if I would score high enough to just take my math that is needed |
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Are you going to be working with electricity? Anything that requires formulas more complicated than 2+2? Calculate payments on a loan from your bookie? Suck it up and learn the math. You'll find a use for it eventually. If you take any higher math you will need the knowledge from the previous classes to succeed –– it all builds on the fundamentals.
You're going to be an automotive tech? Here's a couple of example from a book called 'The Auto Math Handbook' Cylinder Volume = pi/4 * bore^2 * stroke 1/4 mile formulas: HP = weight / (ET/5.825)^3 weight = (ET/5.825)^3 * HP hp = (mph/234)^3 * weight Anything that uses a square or cube root? That's really just an exponent < 1.0 We live in a time where all the known facts in the history of man are at our fingertips. But just because something can be looked up doesn't mean you will understand how to use it. Master the knowledge and you will have a leg up on your classmates who are going to do the minimum to get by. Think of it as job security. "Learn More, Not Less. That is the key to success." Good luck with your classes. |
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Most scientists probably don't use exponents beyond quadratics very often. The very common and necessary subset of exponents is exponential growth and logarithmic scaling. Anyone who does not have a rudimentary understanding of exponential growth should never be trusted with economic decisions. The time value of money should be fundamental to all of your financial decisions.
You hear me DC and Olympia? You will also use exponents in analysis of vibrations and radioactivity. Really, like much of the college curriculum, you are training your mind to see the underlying principals behind your ultimate career rather than simply mastering a tool you will wield on a regular basis. Two men, one with an earned degree with common sense and one with just common sense will not perform equally. |
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We live in a time where all the known facts in the history of man are at our fingertips. But just because something can be looked up doesn't mean you will understand how to use it. Master the knowledge and you will have a leg up on your classmates who are going to do the minimum to get by. Think of it as job security.
"Learn More, Not Less. That is the key to success." Good luck with your classes. Thank you, I found that beautiful and wise, but very true of the decay of the youth and the rotting of the times. |
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Exponents is indeed a necessary math for those who delve in to science-based fields (bio-chemistry / biology / physics / and some bio-molecular engineering).
Now, there are fields I haven't mentioned that use exponential mathematics to determine how much something grows/regress or how to determine how far that star is you see in the sky (this definitely includes physics). In the medical field (CDC), doctors use the 'exponential growth' formula to determine how fast a bacteria/virus may spread in a populated state. |
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Going into electronics, I knew I was going to need advanced math ... So I took Calculus ... Then I made a left turn into programming.
Didn't really need as much math there as some would think - altho the math I did need was a slightly different math (mostly binary, etc...) Then one day, writing an application for quoting whole/universal life insurance, I looked at iterating over 40 years just to get the ending value looked an awful lot like something I learned in Calc. It's truly strange where things you learn in math pop up. |