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"Even entry level office jobs jobs now require an understanding of calculus, statistics, excel, etc." This is simply not true. Entry-level office jobs require
by apsec112 17y ago
"Even entry level office jobs jobs now require an understanding of calculus, statistics, excel, etc."
This is simply not true. Entry-level office jobs require a piece of paper saying "this dude knows calculus"; they don't actually require the knowledge. If you don't believe me, visit an average office, go around, and ask people to take the derivative of sin(x)*x^2; this is a fairly simple problem which any first-semester calculus student would know how to solve.
- DougBTX 17y agoPerhaps you meant sin(x)+x^2?
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- sketerpot 17y agoNo. Just use the product rule. The derivative is x^2 cos(x) + 2 x sin(x) Finding derivatives is actually really easy. There are just a few simple rules you have to apply deterministically to any problem, and the answer will pop out.
- jrockway 17y agoI think his point was to suggest a simpler question. Do you really think most "entry-level office workers" remember the product rule?
- sketerpot 17y agoI believe the whole point of proposing a calculus question was that most entry-level office workers won't be able to answer it.
- jrockway 17y agoAs I mention above, I bet they wouldn't be able to answer an even simpler question. Requiring application of product rule "raises the bar" a bit too high.
- jrockway 17y agoI'm not sure why this is modded down so far, as it raises a good point. If you ask the average entry-level office tech to differentiate x^2 with respect to x, it is likely that they will not even know that. Throw in the product rule, and all bets are off. (I am embarrassed to admit that I had to quickly look at MathWorld to make sure I hadn't misremembered it.)