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Originally Posted by jpsaul7usa
When I read that I wanted to say something encouraging about math not being about skill but just needing some good 'ol fashion hard work, but when I asked the math major in my wing about how he would respond I just had to post it.
"you are a perfect engineer!"
I'm now ready to take flak from all you engineers out there. I hand out with a lot of superior minded math people, and their influence on me has grown. ;p
Honestly though, engineers today use computers and not much math. The difference in school is two or three extra math courses as an engineer or scientist than everyoneone else, at least at my school anyway.
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I disagree completely. What your friend said was sarcastic - don't develop it more. Being good at math has nothing to do with being able to memorize long formulas or being able to calculate fluid movement. Saying you're good a math is a more general thing - it means you are good at problem solving. It means you can take a problem, take what you are given, and figure out a way to use that information to find what you need. In twenty years, I will have forgotten most of this math stuff involving groups or sets or derivative rules. But what I will have retained is a sense of how to tackle problems and skills to engineer a solution. And that problem-solving skill is what's important. That's engineering.