Quote:
Originally Posted by Astro_Bot
Oh, and one of the heaviest users of algebra/calculus? The finance industry. Maybe be if they were a little better at it, we wouldn't have as many problems ...
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As a finance person (Physics & Pure Maths at uni) I can tell you that almost no one in non-academic finance ever uses algebra. You only ever use a spreadsheet to calculate the answer in a particular case, and if want a different case you change the spreadsheet.
I use algebra quite often. Mostly to ensure I understand something fully, but on occasion to demonstrate to colleagues and risk managers that a particular outcome is guaranteed in all cases, or that a particular effect is reliably in a certain direction. The reaction is generally amazement that such a thing is possible.
As for calculus, even rarer.
And I agree that this is a big contributing reason for our problems since 2007.