Poll for College Grads Only

[ThomWV]

Did you have to take and pass a calculus course in order to graduate?

[annabanana]

1. So long ago that I truely don't recall. . but I suspect yes. . . . n/t

[ThomWV]

7. For me it is much easier to remember, very much like one would hardly forget a broken leg.

[onetiredmom]

2. No calc for me!

If I'd had to take a calculus course, much less pass one, I would still be in school!!!!

[KillCapitalism]

30. Same here. n/t

[ProdigalJunkMail]

3. and to my knowledge...

I have not used anything I learned in Calculus since. Maybe I have, on some subliminal level, used the logic related bits, but I don't consciously do any calculus.

sP

[timtom]

59. How about the Quadratic Equation?

That's come in real handy over the years.

I asked several engineers recently the last time they'd used the quadratic formula. "Never," came the answer from each of them.

But, those pesky Russians'll never beat us in launching a space station again.

Fact is, one of ours just knocked one of theirs clean out'na sky!

THAT'S yankee know-how!

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

4. Most English majors I knew did not know calculus. nt

Don't even ask about the theology students.

[DeepBlueC]

33. English major who does not know calculus here

even though I took it and passed it. My Punjabi professor even told me (all evidence to the contrary) that I had a "fine Jewish mind". I am not Jewish. I kept my mouth shut.

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

41. All the calc I use now I learned in high school.

I guess I was lucky, although I didn't think so at the time.

[DeepBlueC]

54. In HS I got to move on after Algebra II

although I could have opted to take trig & calc then. Uhhh no..thanks but no thanks. And whew. And then I got to college and there it was waiting for me, looking like the best of some bad choices. Thinking that it was in any way "best" now seems like one of my bad choices. I remember zero about either trig or calculus. Oh wait, I remember the words sine and cosine. They have at least been useful to me...in crossword puzzles. Occasionally when doing a puzzle my brain will toss up some other mathematical term I did not know I knew. And 'know' is overstating the case ...recognize is more descriptive.

What do you do with calculus?

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

56. Finance uses a lot of calculus to make predictions.

And since I'm transitioning in that direction (albeit at the worst time possible), I'm glad I already have a solid understanding of derivatives and integrals to work with.

[gratuitous]

36. I got my degree in religion

But I took Calc I and II. Fascinating stuff, taught by a doctor of mathematics who once remarked to his class that next to making love and chopping wood, doing math was the most pleasurable way to waste one's time. No, he reported, his wife was not amused by the characterization.

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

42. .

:rofl: He sounds awesome.

When I went to college I tested into Analytical Geometry. I knew that I would probably never need to know it and didn't want to get stressed out my first semester, so I opted to take Business Math I to fulfill that curriculum requirement.

[lonestarnot]

5. Not required, but solved a couple of problems.

:evilgrin:

[Richardo]

6. I took calculus even though my PoliSci degree did not require it.

I enjoyed it too.

Funny thing though - I found my calculus notes a few years back and did not understand ANY of it. It was weird - I have the same brain that understood it in the 70s, I was THERE taking the notes, yet: nada. Kind of a strange philosophical definition of identity thingy.

[Barack_America]

8. 2 semesters of Calculus required.

But it was a Bachelors of Science degree.

[ogneopasno]

9. One semester of calculus was required for my bachelor's degree at a private liberal arts college.

[noamnety]

10. No. Physics or chem was required for my art degree.

(not by the school, but by my parents, who wouldn't pay my tuition unless I got what they considered a "well-rounded" education.)

[grannie4peace]

11. algebra was hard enough- but i got a 100% on a test once & i said

that was better than my degree for me :)::)

[cobalt1999]

12. Calculus 1 & 2 were required. I took Differential Equations just for fun though

Nothing like filling up 4 sheets of paper to figure out one problem :)

[Tangerine LaBamba]

13. I'd still be in college

if passing a Calculus exam was what enabled me to graduate.

I got a B.A., and carefully avoided all hard science courses.

So far, there have been no emergency situations requiring me to use calculus to save someone's life.

[aikoaiko]

14. No, but it should have been and I took it anyway

Calculus is basic math.

[onetiredmom]

31. Basic math is calculus to me!!!! n/t

[HereSince1628]

52. Same, As I wanted to do community ecology it became apparent that systems of differential equations

was going to be a necessary thing for me to have some understanding about.

Not being especially blessed with ability and doing that in a time before graphing calculators, I'll admit it was labor intensive.

In 30 years of college and university teaching I've been in a handful of biology departments and every bloody one of them objected to requiring calculus. It seems that in all those places it made it hard to recruit and retain majors. The good folks at ACT don't even consider theoretical methods to be "scientific investigation." It is no wonder at all that people with biology degrees laugh at the projections of computer models as being "fake."

From my perspective it seems uncommon for anyone not in a Calc sequence to get the background in matrix algebra needed to understand multivariate analysis. Few see, as Darwin did, that people who can do mathematics have a second type of sight.

[TBF]

15. Trig was required but I tested out (had it in high school) - this was for a BS degree

Calculus was only required for hard science (my major was Child & Family Studies) or Business majors.

[blue_onyx]

55. I almost tested out of calculus

I had Advanced Placement Calculus in high school. We took an AP test at the end of the year to see if we could get college credit. Unfortunately, I only got a 2 (out of 5) and a 3 was needed to get college credit. It would have been nice to get college credit since I would've saved money by not having to take it.

[TBF]

61. We didn't have AP classes (really small school) - I was just very lucky

we had a good mathematics teacher and I retained enough to pass. It's been a long time - I'm sure I've forgotten most of it by now!

[Champion Jack]

16. Nope, I went to film school

[drm604]

17. Two years of calc for my Comp. Sci. degree.

I sort of enjoyed it but it did not come easy. Grasping some of the concepts took some real brain work. It certainly can humble your estimation of your intellectual capacities.

[One_Life_To_Give]

18. Undergrad and Grad schools

But being an Engineer you probably suspected that.

[NRaleighLiberal]

19. I was a chem and biol double, so all math and science for me...yuck, in retrospect!

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

20. I didn't finish my degree, but Calculus would not have been required

I satisfied my math requirement with an easy geometry class. I was an English/theatre major, so it'd have been ridiculous to require me to take Calculus.

[Warpy]

21. Engineering school required it and I passed the honors class

but don't ask me to do any of it now. I never used it.

I hated engineering like poison and eventually ended up an RN.

[Bill McBlueState]

22. to graduate with a BS in physics? of course

Was it a requirement for everyone at my university? That, I don't remember.

Which are you asking?

[frazzled]

23. For my math requirement I took ...

"Great Ideas in Mathematics"! Can't recall a single idea after all these years. This was back in the late 1960s, at NYU. The other popular requirement-fulfiller for humanities students like myself (I was a French major) was "Physics for Poets."

I don't think you could get away with this today.

It's not that I was bad at math. I just didn't like it and didn't see a reason to spend much more time on it. In recompense, I gave birth to a baby math nerd who is now working on his Ph.D. in pure mathematics. I have no idea what it is he does, other than it's called 'representation theory.'

Did you all have a foreign language requirement?

[Historic NY]

24. I needed statistics....

went 3 nights a week & one tutorial to get through. the course was later broken into a Part 1 & Part 2. Back then I did it w/o a calculator which I later found out I needed.

[Phoenix-Risen]

25. Yes, and I still own a slide rule too. n/t

[rrneck]

26. Talked them out of Algebra too. nt

[endarkenment]

27. CS degree requires a math minor that goes way past Calc I

I actually loved the math side of it until I got far enough along that my brain got bruised. It was puzzle solving.

[DeepBlueC]

28. I think it was a requirement for my B.A.

I can't imagine why I would have taken it otherwise.

[Burma Jones]

29. Required for my Doctorate in Computing......

Pre-Calc was all I needed for my BA in Theatre.......

[TahitiNut]

32. Four years of Calculus ... and Algebra, too.

But that's not unusual for an undergrad in Math. :shrug:

[GoesTo11]

34. Elitist poll.

Frankly, calculus ought to be required to graduate high school. It isn't any harder than other math. They could speed things up quite a bit between 7th and 10th grade. Then people wouldn't think of calculus as this big scary thing. It's not scary, but it is one of the greatest accomplishments of the human mind and fundamental to modern science as well as economics, statistics, etc.

[ThomWV]

38. True that, but it also acts as a transition marker

To the best of my knowledge its nearly impossible to get a Bachelors degree from anywhere without at least one algebra course but from what I've seen so far in this little informal query you can get about two thirds of the degrees available without having gone even a bit higher than that in the world of mathematics. Personally I don't think that most folks need it at all but from my own point of view it would be much better of everyone had an introduction to statistics and probability, but that's an even rarer subject to be required as far as I can see.

[JerseygirlCT]

44. No math requirement at all

That and no gym requirement were important for me!

[noamnety]

51. Stats and probability would be more useful

I wish everyone arguing on the internet had a basic understanding of statistics - because logic is so tied in with that.

Pet peeve: "My friend did _______ and they never _____" is not a valid argument, unless you are trying to disprove a statement that something happens 100% of the time.

Statistics was required for my masters, but not my undergrad degree.

[BlooInBloo]

66. Which is impossible to understand w/o calculus, of course....

Except in a grade school way.

Calculus is the beginning of math. All that is before would be better termed "pre-math". Rather like penmanship is not literature, anything before calulus is not math - although it is *required* for math.

And just like no-one deserves to be called "educated" without a basic facility with literature, so too with math. And history, and physics, and philosophy, and....

[TBF]

64. I did have to take statistics in grad school - I can't imagine that

you can avoid that even in soft sciences. My graduate degree is in Education. But not much on probability - and you're right that our kids should be taught more math. I went to school a long time ago :)

[RaleighNCDUer]

35. Though technically not qualified, I voted anyway -

for had I graduated I could have done so without Calculus.

Of course, Theater majors are not expected to learn anything really useful - it conflicts with the 'restaurant worker' career path.

[Mugweed]

37. Calc through Differential Equations and Boundary Values

Darn engineering school. They actually made us use calculators and paper and wouldn't let us use Lotus 123. Cue the guy who used a slide rule...

[One_Life_To_Give]

79. How about Log Tables?

I remember the Nuclear Engineers commenting on at least one professor that banned sliderules from tests. Everything had to be done with log tables and by hand.

[CatholicEdHead]

39. Yes, Calc I, II, III, & Advanced Differental Equations

:P

[Igel]

40. Yup.

Chemistry/Russian undergrad. Up through partial differential equations (Laplace transforms and Fourier analysis ... don't remember them). Liked math. Took complex analysis. Should have taken statistics and finished the minor.

[JerseygirlCT]

43. Oh goodness, no

And a good thing, too. Not my strength.

We did have to suffer through two science labs. Truly wish I could have used that time more productively with more humanities/arts courses... I could happily have been a perpetual undergrad with those!

[Coyote_Bandit]

45. No, BUT

I was expected to know differential calculus in my MBA finance classes.

[SteppingRazor]

46. No calc here. I had to take college algebra and a statistics course, but that's it, math-wise...

and I missed testing out of college algebra by one freakin' question! Still burns me to this day. :grr:

[Salviati]

47. Physics and Math double major here...

There was actually only 1 physics class that required anything past calc, but if you took all the math it was "suggested" that you take, you were 3 classes away from a math major...

[blue_onyx]

58. I hated physics

I'm good at math but physics went over my head. I was so happy when that class was over.

[Fearless]

48. No, two math classes, the highest of which was a geometry or statistics.

I did take Calculus myself, but it wasn't required.

I graduate this year.

[blue_onyx]

57. I liked calculus better than geometry

I only took geometry in high school but I remember hating it. I'm very glad I didn't have to take it in college. I took statistics in college and loved it. Easiest class I ever took (got an A+ in it). Wish all my classes had been that easy.

[TBF]

65. I liked Geometry & Trig but hated Algebra

I've heard that people often do well in one but not the other (Geometry vs. Algebra)... not sure why that is.

[Fearless]

70. I've been told it's probably because...

Geometry and trig are spatially based (that is they are physically tangible). Algebra and calculus are not. They are abstract. A person who understands spatially would learn geometry easier and a person who understands (I forget the real word for it) abstractly find algebra and calculus much easier.

Personally I'm the latter, that's why I chose calculus. Granted, the professor I got didn't speak good English and it directly hindered describing calculus and I (a history and secondary education major) was put in the calculus class for math majors. If I had known better I would have switched it; I didn't know until a few years later. :eyes: I ended up getting a C+ but that was better than average. For instance, the average grade for the final was a 34 (of 400+ people who took it)! They scaled it to a 44. I got a 71 so I was happy. I also took calculus in high school. I suppose it helped a bit.

[EstimatedProphet]

49. Yeah, sure did

[MissB]

50. four terms plus dif eq

Unless my sons turn into surly uncooperative teens, they'll each be taking calculus by their freshman year of high school. Far better to get it over with in high school.

[deoxyribonuclease]

53. Differential, integral, and multivariable calculus + differential equations

[NYC_SKP]

60. Calculus is really, really fascinating, but it's not always taught well.

Like all subjects, the key to comprehension IMO was application.

In the abstract, math is just so many numbers, symbols, rules, and operations.

Applied to real life situations, however, calculus became fun for me.

:patriot:

[uppityperson]

62. Nursing required statistics, not calculus. I took it anyway 'cause I'm a nerd. eom

[BlooInBloo]

63. Which degree?

:rofl:

[sniffa]

67. Yup, Calc 1 - 3, and Calc 4 (linear algebra)

The higher the course level the easier it got. It took me a few tries to get through Calc 1, and then I got A's for the following 2, 3, etc.

[BlooInBloo]

69. Unless your "linear algebra" calc4 involved things like inner product spaces and spectral theorems..

That's a radical misnomer.


EDIT: Or unless it's Courant-style n-dimensional stuff.

[cmf]

68. 5 semesters worth - but I majored in engineering.

I'm pretty sure that even the basic intro calculus was not required for non-science or engineering majors

[Beer Snob-50]

71. i have an accounting degree

nad we had to take some kind of calculus course although it was not called calculus (i am getting old and senile and don't remember what itwas called)

[madinmaryland]

72. Two years of calculus and differential equation were required.

Electrical engineering.

[Greyhound]

73. Yep, Comp. Sci.

Although I'm told you can get the degree without it now through some of the those "private for profit universities" that so many are attending now.

[Crabby Appleton]

74. 12 semester hrs calc plus a linear algebra course for BS in Computer Science

I was a chem major before switching to CS, pretty much the same math requirement at my school.

[DFW]

75. Yes, but I got out of having to take it again

Took the AP test as a senior in high school and aced it, probably by computer error,
as there should have been no way I aced that.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

76. It should be required for all majors

Its like Beowulf and art classes. Its part of a education every college graduate should have.

[KatyaR]

77. No, I was a Music Education major, so I had to take Geology instead.

The most boring class of my entire life--I almost flunked it because I couldn't stay awake.

[BleedingHeartRN]

78. Neither of my undergrad, nor my graduate degrees required it

And I don't feel left out in the slightest. All of mine required statistics (inferential included). I actually use it when reading research articles.