[CS-FSLUG] Calculus

[Clinton Evans]

I use calculus routinely in the course of my work. It is an immensely useful 
tool for a wide range of problems. Every time a mechanical engineer works out 
a center of gravity or a moment of inertia he uses calculus. Every time an 
electrical engineer works an AC network problem, he uses calculus. In terms 
of dollars per equation, Every time an orbital mechanics person works out how 
to get a space craft to Neptune, he uses calculus.

Maxwell's Equations are the most economically important piece of physics in 
the past 200 years and calculus is at the heart of the theory. It is 
fundamental to everything from radio through power generation and 
transmission to physical optics. It also provided the most important clue 
leading to relativity. Talking of relativity, calculus is also fundamental to 
general relativity.

I am a physicist and work in optics.  My use of calculus is so diverse it is 
hard to know where to start but here is a short list:

Optical Coatings
Polarization
Optimization
Radiometry
Diffraction Theory
Geometric Optics (Fermat's Principle)

Quite apart from its utility, calculus is also interesting. It has its own 
beauty and is as worthy of study as anything in literature, the arts or any 
phenomenon of the physical world.

Clinton


On Wednesday 24 May 2006 13:24, Yama Ploskonka wrote:
> David Aikema wrote:
> <snip>
>
> > With degrees in French Lang & Lit, and certification as an elementary
> > school teacher, I'm unsurprised that you speak of not having used
> > calculus outside of school.
>
> ouch!
>
> I've been cast as a humanist!  my, that hurts... :-)
>
> BTW, you're the first person alive I've come across that says has used
> calculus.  I've come across quite a few people in my life, used to roam
> academia for fun and profit, got into a bit of research, did 3D computer
> modelling and on, never beyond trig.  But,
>
> You're my first!!!  :-)
>
> Yet, I've known zillions of people who are utterly unable to balance
> their spending, who do the "one hand doesn't know what the other hand
> does" not out of obedience to Scripture but out of ignorance.   Yet
> Calculus is a prerequisite to pretty much anything in academia (and only
> there, AFAIK), and while accountability (in money and actions) is not.
>
> >> BTW, what more precisely have you used calculus for?
> >
> > In the business world, for stuff like waveform analysis.
>
> I must confess my ignorance on that area.  I am curious about what, more
> precisely.  I really want to know of at least one single instance of
> real-life use of Calculus, but I am afraid this might start to be
> getting off topic
>
> > The skills that you'll use all depend on what sort of field you want
> > to go into.  I also spent some time working in a physics research lab
> > - academia outside the classroom - and there you're also not going to
> > get very far without a lot of mathematics.  You might not need
> > calculus in the arts, but its important to almost anything in the
> > sciences.
> >
> > Dave
>
> Hmm, would first have to define what "science" is.  If "science" is what
> is done with calculus, I concede the point, check and mate.
>
> If science is finding out data about data, and data is U, i.e. Creation
> and Man's delving and musings on it, then the use and the parts that
> require Calculus is so minuscule as to be less than a rounding error.
>
> Yes, I will admit that for some very specific areas it has been said (I
> have no evidence yet beyond the official intelligenzia, and some FOAF)
> that calculus is vital, that it makes all the difference.  Yet
> apparently that also involves nuclear or aerospace physics, which
> engages such a small portion of humanity as to be again just a glitch.
>
> Yet you cannot get your degree unless you pass Calculus.  I can say with
> full (empirical) confidence that 99.9 % of more of _successful_ PhDs
> will never again see Calculus, until the day their chil is struggling
> with homework, and most will wisely pretend they are busy.
>
> The proportion of Calculus users in the general population makes people
> like you a true special class, which doesn't mean I do not respect you.
>   It's just that those who decide those things should know we won't all
> be that.  Some of us will simply teach school (oh my, that will leave a
> bruise mark... )
>
> I'm sorry, this is one of my pet peeves, and it has to do with how the
> round bottle has to be squeezed in the square hole, because Microsoft
> says so.
>
> One of the reasons I stand so staunchilly behind Libre (justifying this
> is still on-topic :-)) is because, maybe, it opens the doors for people
> following their Talents, and fulfilling them, as God intended.  Not
> because a sinful Harvard degree is worth more in the marketplace than a
> Bob Jones U one.  If I had my way, both would be worth zero, and people
> would be appreciated (the worker gets his wages) out of what they
> actually do - for others.  And Libre software and Libre knowledge would
> be available to all.  (and Libre music for worship and joy)
>
> Yet, Nate, work on your Calculus.  In _THIS_ world, you _NEED_ it.
> I managed, by the grace of God, and after many tries.
>
> I was still placing cans on shelves in a grocery store, with 3 degrees
> and 39 years old, basically because those degrees didn't mean anything.
> My wife makes twice as much as I do - in part because she does have a
> degree that required Calculus and completed it (not that she ever uses
> Calculus...).  I gave up.
>
> Yama
>
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-- 
Clinton