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...and I didn't use Algebra or Calculus once.
Remind me why I spent so long learning them all those years ago? 
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Either you ended up with a job that doesn't need them or you don't have one. I use them daily and stuff from just about every other math class I have ever had.
"They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers! Can I get an amen?"
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Rick York wrote: Either you ended up with a job that doesn't need them
I'd like to turn that around since that seems to be the default.
So you ended up with a job that does need them.
Maybe you're being punished for something you did in a former life, I don't know
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I don't consider it punishment. 
"They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers! Can I get an amen?"
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I agree. So many times people have said being a computer programmer is very math intensive and I don't hardly ever use any math besides basic stuff.
Social Media - A platform that makes it easier for the crazies to find each other.
Everyone is born right handed. Only the strongest overcome it.
Fight for left-handed rights and hand equality.
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I hear you - and when I do use math-like stuff it's more along the lines of set theory and lambda calculus - more Alonzo Church, less Euclid. =)
Real programmers use butterflies
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Because you need to learn at a level that is 1 or 2 times higher than you actually need to do your job. That way, what you do is easy in comparison.
I was great at math and my instructor said that I did not need to attend his class - just show up for the tests. It is another example of forgetting more than the kids ever knew.
I have found it amazing that people need to calculate the Big-0, because it is obvious that a loop inside a loop (inside a loop) is not efficient. But, it is always nice to have a mathematical proof; even if they do not understand it.
Do I calculate the Big-0 on my algorithms? No.
Do I use calculus? No.
Do I use Algebra? Occasionally.
Do I remember how to calculate the area under a curve. No.
Have I used math on a daily bases to get the job done? Yes.
Have I forgot 90% of what I learn. Yes.
INTP
"Program testing can be used to show the presence of bugs, but never to show their absence." - Edsger Dijkstra
"I have never been lost, but I will admit to being confused for several weeks. " - Daniel Boone
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John R. Shaw wrote: Have I used math on a daily bases to get the job done? Yes.
What maths did you do today?
Social Media - A platform that makes it easier for the crazies to find each other.
Everyone is born right handed. Only the strongest overcome it.
Fight for left-handed rights and hand equality.
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There is a 2% chance that the next card will be a 2. I fold.
There is a 100% chance I will have less money today than yesterday.
There is a 2% local tax that is applied after all other taxes have been applied (taxes on taxes). But only if you are in an area where that applies; otherwise it is applied before other taxes are applied.
Actually the last one was a while ago and a supersize. It is amazing how many ways a government comes up with to take your money.
1 part sugar
2 parts butter
4 parts flour
Blast, I am out of tea.
INTP
"Program testing can be used to show the presence of bugs, but never to show their absence." - Edsger Dijkstra
"I have never been lost, but I will admit to being confused for several weeks. " - Daniel Boone
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John R. Shaw wrote: It is amazing how many ways a government comes up with to take your money
... and from which bodily orifices they will try to extract it.
Software Zen: delete this;
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John R. Shaw wrote: ctually the last one was a while ago and a supersize. It is amazing how many ways a government comes up with to take your money.
I don't think you should bring up stuff like trade tariffs until the SoapBox reopens.
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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Having spent 7 years on imaging algorithms and then moved between displaying graphics and managing touch inputs on ECUs in the most optimized possible ways, balanced engine maps and frame synchronization on distributed graphic systems...
Do I calculate the Big-0 on my algorithms? Yes
Do I use calculus? Occasionally. Mostly because I suck at it and use other means.
Do I use Algebra? Often.
Do I remember how to calculate the area under a curve? Yes otherwise I would be jobless
Have I used math on a daily bases to get the job done? Yes.
Have I forgot 90% of what I learn. Sadly yes, especially statistics.
GCS d--(d+) s-/++ a C++++ U+++ P- L+@ E-- W++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- r+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
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That reminds me of the first program I created. An algebraic graphing program. Recursive algebraic math parser, low level graphics drawing (before Windows) and a complete windowing system.
I am lazy. I would rather spend days creating a program to solve a problem than spend spend hours to solve the problem today and tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. Input/output done.
INTP
"Program testing can be used to show the presence of bugs, but never to show their absence." - Edsger Dijkstra
"I have never been lost, but I will admit to being confused for several weeks. " - Daniel Boone
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Funny. I remember writing a program to perform algebra "synthetic division" for polynomials. Probably took longer than doing it by hand, but it made 0 mistakes for my homework.
C64 Basic to the rescue.
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I do not determine big-O on my stuff either. I prefer to let benchmarks tell the tale.
It's yes for me on the others except the last one. The percentage is much lower for me.
"They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers! Can I get an amen?"
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Rick York wrote: I prefer to let benchmarks tell the tale.
Eeeh... well, if you benchmark with a data set of size 10, the one of size 100, one of size 1000 and one of size 10,000, then we might get some indication of how it will perform with at 10,000 size data set.
But reality is that most developers who report benchmarking figures do not report for various data set sizes, in a way that lets a user make estimates of the performance will be for other data set sizes. Maybe as common: The benchmarking is done for a small, isolated part of the functionality at the core of the algorithm, with the complexity occurring at a higher level. You proudly show some core operation to be super-optimized, but then you use it in an algoritm causing the number of calls to this core operation to raise exponentially with the problem size: Then the super-speed at problem size 1 may have little value.
Understandig complexity, not only in processing time, but also in space requirements, is quite essnetial. You do not always have to calculate an exact O(n), but you should always have a rough idea of the space and time requrements if the data set size is increased by one, two or three magnitudes above the size you used making the benchmarks.
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Maybe you have a boring job
Mircea
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Hmm. I use algebra all the time. Calculus, never. I took 32 credit hours of 'advanced' math in college: calculus, differential equations, and matrix algebra. With only minor forays into matrix algebra when doing graphics, I haven't used any of it.
Most of that space in my brain has been recycled for old movie lines. Much, much more useful.
Software Zen: delete this;
modified 5-Jun-20 21:11pm.
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for fun.. and developing your logical thinking?
I mean maths is easy.. as long as your thinking is alright, which learning it does straighten it! 
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well,
when I was working/playing in the field of compilers (long time ago), some set theory was used, however, when designing the different algorithms for the various treewalks (lots of tree walks and list processing) at least one eye was on the big O. Especially for one pass load and go compilers speed was essential (and at that time computers were not that fast) but optimizations were more related to clever programming than algorithms (e.g. the design of a set representation strongly depends on what you want to do with the set and its elements).
In my current (hobby) workingarea, software defined radio, both calculus and discrete mathematics are needed.
Processing samples - with lots of fourier transforms and some laplace transformations for the filters - is basically calculus oriented. Of course one needs to look at performance: you do not want to miss too many samples, but handling performance is also here more an engineering issue than an algorithmic issue.
Translating samples to bits and handling bits is - seen from a math position - different, viterbi decoding is a major component, as is Reed Solomon decoding, the latter using algebra (group theory). But also here, the final performance largely depends - next to selecting
decent algorithms - on clever programming and decent engineering.
But fortunately, for most of these "math" components there exists libraries (and one
can write its own),
But, the math, both the calculus and the discrete math, are basically fun to understand
and it is always a learning experience to write a library component for it.
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OK - I get it - falling off to sleep whilst lustily counting sheep doesn't take calculus.
However, algebra is really a representation of how we solve problems all day long that have any sort of calculation. It's done as a background process. Now how far goes? Well - do you use all the subtleties of programming you were supposed to learn? Probably not, but you will still claim to have coded (at least in Q&A).
Sorry if you lost count of the sheep - there go your Welsh Pub bragging rights . . . unless you can exploit 'lost count' in an implied context..
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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Another week over? How can you tell?
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I'm looking at getting a drone to be able to take aerial videos and photos. Any good recommendations will be purchased using CP currency.
Thanks.
Social Media - A platform that makes it easier for the crazies to find each other.
Everyone is born right handed. Only the strongest overcome it.
Fight for left-handed rights and hand equality.
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Take a look at the DJI Mavic Mini.
It can fly for half an hour and with the weight of 249 g it's license free in most countries.
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