|
Dave Lindell
Posts: 14
Location: Hacienda Heights, USA
Joined: 10/20/2008
|
Calculus |
Flag »
Reply »
|
| Is calculus REALLY needed to be a good surveyor?
|
|
| |
Monday, November 10, 2008 at 12:15:55 PM |
|
Ashley
Posts: 14
Location: TN USA
Joined: 10/10/2008
|
|
Re: Calculus |
Flag »
Reply »
|
I think a basic education in calculus is extremely important to being a good surveyor. It pops up in many areas, especially when you get into error propagation and many of the other basic formulas we use everday. In many of my very basic survey education classes we used calculus everyday in order to understand how and why the formulas we use everyday apply. Another simple example I can think of where an understanding of calculus is important is solving curves. I know much of what we do today is automated thanks to advances in technology, but I think it is still important to understand how those programs work as well as what tools they are using, which means having a thorough understanding of mathematical subjects such as calculus.
Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives. - James Madison
|
|
|
Isleno
Posts: 40
Location: Gonzales, La USA
Joined: 10/20/2008
|
|
Re: Calculus |
Flag »
Reply »
|
| I am a Professional Engineer and a Professional Land Surveyor. I have used Calculus in Land Surveying applications much more than Engineering. Error propogation, Least Squares adjustments, data analysis and many other applications in surveying are solved using calculus. Even now when a computer is doing the number crunching, the surveyor needs to understand the process or risk being reduced to a button pusher incapable of recognizing when something just isn't right.
|
|
|
Peter.Polito
Posts: 11
Joined: 1/4/2009
|
|
Re: Calculus |
Flag »
Reply »
|
"The man! not the machine!"
calculus is extremely important in surveying! i had to use calculus in all my surveying courses. i took surveying 3 with the worst instructor imaginable! this fruitcake wanted all the work done out by hand to 14 decimal places!
this work was all calculus and extremely laborious. the worst part was this fruitcake could not answer any questions about how to do the calculus! i asked him where one of the variables used in the formulas came from. he replied, "i don't know".
another student asked him why we needed to know all the calculus. he replied, "it's on the pe exam"
don't be afraid of calculus or any math. math is your best friend. the problem is how it's taught. if you get a worthless teacher, the student is the loser.
keep learning calculus and don't quit because you have a worthless teacher
|
|