Why do almost no one use calculus in real life work?

Hello, I am happy to answer your question.

Calculus may still be used in some majors in life and work. For example, many majors in science and engineering will use calculus iteration formulas, but some are edited into computer programs. You may not have noticed that many science and engineering majors, such as civil engineering, water conservancy, bridge, mechanical, electrical, and financial majors, often use calculus theory when performing calculations. Calculus is a very powerful theory of calculation.

When we generally talk about calculus, it covers three major sections: derivatives and differentials, functions, and indefinite integrals. Each section is subdivided into several branches. When we solve some complex problems, we often need to use the theory of calculus, and generally use computers to simulate calculations. Because of complex calculation formulas, it is difficult to satisfy the iterative relationship by hand calculation and solve the corresponding Regarding numerical values, I am a structural analyzer. We all use calculus theory to solve the results when solving calculations.

In the financial discipline, calculus has a very wide application background. In the process of numerical analysis, calculus plays the same role as chopsticks. It is an indispensable and necessary tool for us. Through function analysis, analysis Finding high points and low points, studying parabolas, these are all based on calculus theory. In fact, with the continuous advancement of science, we rely more and more on computer software, so many complex theories are programmed into computing software tools. This is a big basis for reflecting its importance.

Mathematics plays a decisive role in the entire learning process, covering many subjects. As learning continues to deepen, while the research theory deepens, more and more theories require the use of micro To support it with integrals, graduate students and doctoral students need a good foundation in calculus to help us solve theoretical problems. Therefore, calculus still has many uses, but we often ignore it.

I hope my answer can help you.

In real life and work, the vast majority of people, including highly educated people who have studied calculus, have not directly used calculus for calculations. This is a fact. However, this fact does not mean that learning calculus is useless.

Calculus is difficult for most people, but it is still a basic subject. Foundation means that it provides theoretical support for other disciplines, and it cannot be used to directly solve practical problems. This is somewhat similar to the foundation of a high-rise building. They are underground, invisible and intangible, and so rarely mentioned that ordinary people are unaware of their existence. Similarly, in technology-intensive work, everyone usually uses professional knowledge and skills, and calculus is rarely mentioned and used, but the basic role of calculus cannot be denied. In other words, if a person does not have the foundation of calculus, discussing these professional things will be a castle in the air.

A person who is new to calculus will think that this knowledge is just some mathematical games and has no practical use at all. But in higher grades, you can realize its effect. Take the mechanical major, which I know relatively well, as an example. Only with a solid foundation in advanced mathematics (mainly calculus) can you learn college physics and theoretical mechanics well. If you don't understand calculus at all, it will be difficult to learn theoretical mechanics. Only by learning theoretical mechanics well can you learn materials mechanics well. If you haven't learned the mechanics of materials well, then learning mechanical principles is just reading from the bible. Mechanical principles are the basis of mechanical design. When I graduate and engage in professional work, calculus is rarely used, but mechanical design is used extensively. Did you see that one link is linked to another, and any missing link will seriously affect subsequent learning. Calculus eventually became the indirect basis for mechanical design. Many other disciplines, especially science and engineering, are similar.

In engineering practice, the final form of knowledge, mathematics, is mainly primary and secondary school mathematics, and even eventually becomes a question of big and small, more and less.

During meetings or discussions, the focus is often on what the value is and who is bigger and who is smaller, rather than a bunch of formulas. However, many professional terms are very difficult to understand. To understand them, you must have a solid mathematical foundation, including calculus, to do it step by step. For example, when talking about "reactive power", is it better to have more or less? What does it mean? Of course you can look it up on Baidu, but if you don’t have a solid foundation in calculus, electromagnetism, and electrical engineering, your understanding will be superficial. And at work, a calculation (although calculus is not directly used) or a decision is often a matter of competition, who understands it more thoroughly, otherwise anyone can be a leader and a technical backbone.

Another example is artificial intelligence, deep learning, and machine learning that are very popular now. Many things in deep learning are based on an algorithm called "stochastic gradient descent". When we usually use deep learning, we rarely use any calculus formula directly. But we have to deeply understand what stochastic gradient descent is. To understand it, you must have a foundation in calculus. If you don't believe it, try it with someone who has never been exposed to calculus and see how much you can understand. If you can't understand it, it will be extremely difficult to actually choose a deep learning algorithm. Because you don’t even understand the principle, how do you know which algorithm is more suitable and how to adjust the parameters. For example: which activation function to choose, how many nodes to use in each layer, how many layers to use in total, how to avoid overfitting, etc. When making these choices, calculus was not used directly at all, but "experience" and "feeling" were used. This feeling must be based on a solid mathematical foundation. If you don’t have this kind of foundation, you will just be able to simply apply formulas (although junior high school students can understand them, except for professional terms), and to apply formulas, unless someone tells you which one to apply, otherwise... only those with a solid foundation in calculus, Only with the basics of linear algebra and even probability theory can we deeply understand the scope of application of each algorithm and decide which formula to apply.

Calculus, as well as other related mathematical knowledge, mathematical ideas, and mathematical thinking, have been deeply integrated with our knowledge structure.

Think back to whether primary school, junior high school, or high school Chinese requires memorizing a lot of texts. After so many years, apart from a few Tang poems, how many other articles can you still remember? How many original Chinese texts do we use in our daily life and work?

But should these texts be memorized? Of course it should! These texts were never used again, but they became our later organizational skills of words, words, sentences, and articles. We digested and absorbed these texts subtly, and finally lost their original form.

To put it more simply, we eat food and these foods become part of the body. We cannot think that eating food is useless just because we did not feel the specific form of the food or see the food later. In particular, you cannot feel that the food you ate as a child is of no use, nor can you say that you only care about eating for a day or two anyway, "If I had known better, I would have stopped eating."

The same is true for calculus. For technicians who are not engaged in research, it is rarely directly applied, but it cannot be said that it should not be learned. Its ideas have been integrated into our minds. When it comes to complex designs and complex decisions, the idea of ??calculus will come out to help us. We are only designing and making decisions subconsciously. We no longer know which formula or theorem is applied when calculus helps. This is like saying that when we grow up, we can blurt out sentences and say an idiom smoothly, but we have forgotten which text we learned the idiom in when we were children. We don’t even admit that we learned Chinese when we were young, thinking that we are born with a “language sense”.

In short, except for scientific researchers, calculus is rarely used directly for specific calculations. This is because it is a basic subject and provides theoretical support for professional skills. If engineering and technical personnel (architecture, construction, Internet, IT, electrical and electronics, chemical industry, aerospace, biology, etc.) do not have a foundation in calculus, their calculations and decisions in actual work will be affected.

For other positions where science and engineering skills are not strong (such as janitors, chefs, vendors, artists, athletes, front-line workers), calculus is less useful.

Finally, I need to remind you that in daily life, no matter what occupation you are in, you do not need to use calculus. Especially the “grocery shopping issue” that everyone is keen on. Life and work must be separated. What you learn after college is never mainly used for living, but for work.

Hello, I am very happy to answer your questions. I hope it can be helpful to you. If you like it, please give it a follow. Thank you all!

Why do almost no one use calculus in real life and work?

Calculus is a branch of mathematics in advanced mathematics that studies the differentiation and integration of functions and related applications.

Calculus plays a pivotal role in mathematics, physics, chemistry and other fields, but why does it rarely appear in our actual work?

I think the biggest reason is that elementary mathematics is enough for most jobs. On this basis, there is no need to use calculus to calculate.

Elementary mathematics, including the four arithmetic operations in primary school (the four arithmetic operations can already meet the needs of daily life), algebraic geometry in junior high school (algebraic geometry gradually becomes abstract and is rarely used in life), and Sets, basic elementary functions, quadratic function root distributions and inequalities, trigonometric functions, etc. that I learned in high school (already rarely appear in our actual work).

In our work, many jobs focus more on efficiency and do not pursue too much precision. In life, this is even more true.

For example: when we pick up a water cup to drink water, we will never pick up the calculus to calculate the volume of water in the cup after drinking the water. Many people may ask? Then why master calculus? What I want to say is that whether it is used or not is one thing, and whether it is used or not is another matter. Moreover, learning calculus is not just for application, but also for exercising mathematical thinking.

Why do almost no one use calculus in real life and work? The two main reasons are that elementary mathematics is sufficient for most jobs and that most jobs do not require precision. However, calculus has irreplaceable value, not only promoting the development of mathematics and other disciplines, but also promoting the progress of human civilization.

What do you think? Come and comment in the comment area.

This question actually reflects the life level of the subject. Sorry, I didn't mean to discriminate.

It is relatively cruel, and in the usual sense, the elite class of society is far away from the subject.

As someone who works as a market seller, bank counter, security guard, or takeaway boy, I certainly don’t encourage students to spend too much time learning advanced applications of basic mathematics such as calculus.

But I believe that every parent will not take the above-mentioned career as the ultimate goal when their children are still in the first grade of elementary school, and educate their children to strive for it throughout their lives.

Let me reiterate, I am not discriminating, I am just telling a fact. Again, I apologize if this seems too direct to you.

Mathematics majors are usually broadly divided into two major categories: basic mathematics (Mathematics) and applied mathematics (Applied Mathematics).

Basic mathematics, also known as pure mathematics, is roughly the study of the inherent laws of the mathematical structure itself, and the study of the quantitative relationships and spatial forms of things in a pure form. It usually includes: differential geometry, mathematical physics, partial differential equations, etc.

Applied mathematics includes two parts, one is mathematics related to application, and the other is the application of mathematics in other fields, that is, using mathematics as a tool to explore and solve problems in science, engineering and sociology.

For students with a pure mathematics orientation, the employment prospects are relatively simple, that is, after graduation, they usually directly enter a university to work or enter a scientific research institution for employment. There are very few opportunities for students to encounter such people in society.

But once there is a situation of changing careers to engage in commercial organizations, we usually use an idiom to describe it-the tiger descends from the mountain!

Applied mathematics has a wide range of employment opportunities. There are currently two main areas.

First, computers, generally doing data analysis, software development, etc. in IT companies.

The second is economics. Many economics nowadays require very professional mathematics to be analyzed, especially in actuarial science, international economics and trade, chemical pharmaceuticals, communication engineering, etc.

Let me give you a few examples:

Actuary, as one of the most valuable certified professions in the world, is listed as the highest-paying job of the year by Business Insider. I have not directly I know an actuary friend, but I often hear legends about great gods after dinner, and I am always shocked!

In the financial direction, financial mathematicians are one of the most sought-after talents on Wall Street, and annual salaries of one million US dollars are commonplace. The man who was the top scorer in the college entrance examination at the same school is now doing this in the United States.

IT is also a popular industry that is relatively promising. The talent gap reaches millions every year. The applied mathematics major has an advantage that cannot be ignored in the IT industry. There are more friends around here, and there are two apartments in a first-tier city, which is very relaxing and pleasant.

Wait a minute, did you forget to answer the calculus question?

Oh, yes!

In terms of difficulty, the most basic courses for mathematics majors are: calculus, linear algebra, and statistics. Do you understand?

If you learn mathematics, physics and chemistry well, you will not be afraid of traveling around the world!

I am Mr. Cat, thanks for reading!

Do you feel that the four arithmetic operations are rarely used anymore? Even with calculators, hawkers don’t even do calculations themselves, so why learn arithmetic? However, there are many people who use it. At least the people around me use calculus to set formulas every day. I did a calculation last time, which required a lot of equations with many parameters. I found a company in Zhengzhou to do the parameterization with 20 people. It took me a month to sort out the parameters. They had never learned calculus to do the parameterization, so I didn’t delay them from doing calculus. Parameters, they say they are doing AI. Calculus is only used by labor-intensive workers and cannot be used by ordinary people.

Answer the main question first!

It is a fact that calculus is rarely used in real life. Some people may mention some examples of calculus calculations, but this does not change the fact that calculus does not exist in most people's lives.

The reason is that when we need to use calculus calculations in our lives, it means that this work is sensitive to the precision of the data. A data error of one thousandth or ten thousandth may cause the entire work to fail.

But we ordinary people do not use such high precision, and this kind of error has no impact on our ordinary lives. A difference of 0.1 square millimeter between the half-section areas of two chopsticks does not affect our ability to pick vegetables.

Summary: The theoretical value of calculus is to tell everyone that in mathematics, you can rely on the pinch theorem to determine the limit. This is both a calculation method and a mathematical thinking.

Just like the assumption that particles in microphysics are infinitely divisible, it has almost no impact on real life, but it is a necessary step to climb the mountain.

A little bit of a story, a landlord asked Afanti to build a beautiful building with a second floor, but he didn’t want the first floor.

It’s not that I haven’t used it before, it’s just that I don’t have this awareness. For example, you have to eat a meal until you are full, which is points; from point A to point B, you need to find the shortest route, which is gradient descent. , behind it is the idea of ??differential; learn certain patterns from a bunch of things that have happened many times, and predict what will happen at the next moment. This is regression, prediction and probability.... We do many things subconsciously, It's just that the concept has not been clarified, so I think it has not been done.

What people say is that calculus calculations are rarely used in real life. They don’t say that calculus is divorced from practical applications. It’s like studying rockets going to the sky. The fact is that very few people use calculus calculations, mainly the majority of people. The level of contact is basically experience plus many formulas deduced from manual calculus. Just apply it directly. I once asked a doctor if calculus is as integrated into your bones as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division is for us. He laughed and told me that basically It won’t be used for a long time and will be forgotten

The person who asked this question should say that he doesn’t know calculus at all.

In real life, calculus is everywhere. For example, the so-called integral is multiplication and accumulation (accumulation, so it is called integral). For example, water bills are like this, electricity bills are like this, and various calculations are accumulated on a daily basis. This is true whether it is accumulated monthly or annually. It is everywhere in our lives, not to mention more professional places.

The same is true for differentials. The characteristic of differentials is trend. For example, if you see the clouds getting thicker and thicker, you will feel that it is going to rain. If you see the wind getting stronger, you should quickly put away your clothes and go out to work early to avoid traffic jams. It is also the result of differentiation.

These things do not necessarily need to be calculated in detail, or the sampling does not need to be infinitely small or infinitely large (take the limit) when calculating. The results can meet the needs of life. For example, the calculation of electricity bills does not need to be based on Sampling in seconds is accurate enough by day. Inaccurate errors can be accumulated to the next month, so the calculation is very simple. Although this may produce multiple solutions, common sense in life or administrative regulations can be used to constrain it to ensure that there is only one Solution, for example, this is what the calculation date ends at the end of the month.

Actually there is, but you just don’t know how to do it...

There are not many calculations in life, and calculus is also useful, but most people don’t know how to do it, and naturally they don’t feel that they If you suffer a loss, you won’t feel useful anymore.

The simplest thing, we often joke about buying pizza, the 12-inch pizza is gone, can I exchange it for you with two 8-inch pizzas? This is actually mathematical knowledge. If you don’t know it, you will be happy to be cheated.

A bit more difficult. Mathematician Wang Yuan and his wife bought watermelons. The price of large watermelons was three times that of small watermelons. Wang Yuan and his wife argued about which one to buy. Wang Yuan thought that the radius of a large watermelon was half larger, and the volume was a little more than three times larger. His wife thought that the skin of a large watermelon was thicker, and Wang Yuan thought that three small melons were better than one large melon. There is still a lot of skin...

You see, there are actually many mathematical problems in life. We are actually doing mathematical problems all the time, and when we encounter many choices, you are actually doing probabilities. The problem is, you just don’t realize it. When you encounter two roads, your first reaction will definitely be to think about which one is closer with greater probability.

So I still have this view. Whether a subject is useful or not is not determined by the subject itself, but by the people who master the subject. A person who does not know English will never think of reading an English book, and a person who does not know mathematics will also not want to use mathematics to solve problems, because they do not realize that this is a mathematics problem at all!