a calculator that does algebra?

Originally Posted by masherscf

Why don't you just hire a guy to do the Algebra for her? Getting her a calculator to do the work for her won't help her succeed. Standardized tests often require a student to do calculations by hand. Therefore, It will actually prevent her from succeeding. Algebra is in your fingers. You can no more learn Algebra from a calculator than your can drive a car with a typewriter.

As far as nursing is concerned, you need to be very good a Math for nursing. As a Nurse you need to get important calculations correct under pressure. Small mistakes can, in the worst cases, lead to sickness or death and almost always lead the potential loss of license and career. My sister is an RN with a BS in Nursing and a BS psychology and she had a lengthy and expensive legal fight to keep her job after a minor calculation error despite that fact that no harm was done.

Not only that, nursing programs are highly competitive and certainty not interested in students who don't have the scholastic acumen to pass a simple Algebra class...or have poor grades in any class at all.

That being said, if you have a diagnosed learning disability that entitles you to use a calculator, the professor has no right to refuse you. There is something called the American with disabilities act. However, the student is usually required to work though an official office for students with disabilities and the Professor may require that the student take exams separate from the rest of the class. Such disabilities are confidential and it would be hard for the prof to justify letting a single student use a calculator without disclosing.

In any case, a person should pick a career on their talents and passion...not on what the paycheck might be.

I agree completely.

Wolfram Alpha can do a lot but the format the answers is printed in can occasionally throw users. It's the same with Maple, Mathematica or Mathcad. Helping others in Yahoo Answers does keep me on my toes.

All that fancy stuff will not do you any good if there is no electricity. I too have a bit of dyslexia and a cock-eyed eye. I managed to get a degree in accounting and even completed calculus two. There is special help for people with dyslexia and the like. At a good nursing school, there should be someone who can help. Also it would not hurt to have a real eye doctor become involved.

[jd1138]

Originally Posted by masherscf

I got a Masters Degree in Mathematics and took two years off from school to get married and apply to Ph.D. programs. When I started the Ph.D. program it was like I was starting fresh.


I suggest looking for MATLAB or MAPLE with your eye-patch firmly affixed.

I highly respect people like you who can do higher-level mathematics. I barely made it through the math I had to take for Computer Science. My college Math prof said: "it took me 4 years to get my PhD from UC-Berkeley, and it nearly killed me." He was proving a long and complicated theorem one day on the chalkboard, and he was having trouble with it. So he stopped for a second and turned around and said: "too bad you guys aren't Biology or Accounting/Business majors, because in those classes you don't need to prove theorems!" I almost changed my major to Biology to became a podiatrist, chiropractor or something.

Actually you do have to do math in business school. Not only for statistics but for proving business models. All part of business projections and cost/benefit analysis.

[jd1138]

Yeah I know you have to take math in school as a business/accounting major and use it in real life business, but it's a different math. For example, accountants/business majors usually take applied calculus, instead of regular calculus that a math/engineering/science major would take. You wouldn't need to prove theorems in Applied Calculus.

Unless your school was different.

[masherscf]

Originally Posted by jd1138

Yeah I know you have to take math in school as a business/accounting major and use it in real life business, but it's a different math. For example, accountants/business majors usually take applied calculus, instead of regular calculus that a math/engineering/science major would take. You wouldn't need to prove theorems in Applied Calculus.

Unless your school was different.

engineers, scientists and technical students don't do proofs either. That pleasure us reserved for Math and computer science majors.

At our school, everyone took the same math.

[masherscf]

Originally Posted by computoman

At our school, everyone took the same math.

Then your school sucked. (j/k) Not everyone takes the same Math. There isn't just one Math course. Each degree program has separate course requirements. The usual freshman Calculus course is designed for engineers and scientists and does not usually teach proofs. If this is the lowest level of Mathematics offered at the college, it could be required of all majors. However, there is a junior level advanced calculus course for Math, economics and computer science majors that does teach proofs. Not everyone takes this course.

It was the early 1970's and things were not so diversified yet. At the 2 year last college I worked at, (as a tech) they had math classes of all kinds. I also have about 50 undergrad hours in computing but no degree for it. Never had to take a single math class for them. I was going to get an AA, but they said I had to take a speech giving class. After teaching at the college level for eight years, I thought they should of waived that, but then did not need another sheepskin anyway. Shame you can not get a (legitimate) masters degree based on experience.

[masherscf]

Originally Posted by computoman

It was the early 1970's and things were not so diversified yet. At the 2 year last college I worked at, (as a tech) they had math classes of all kinds. I also have about 50 undergrad hours in computing but no degree for it. Never had to take a single math class for them. I was going to get an AA, but they said I had to take a speech giving class. After teaching at the college level for eight years, I thought they should of waived that, but then did not need another sheepskin anyway. Shame you can not get a (legitimate) masters degree based on experience.

Experience is not a substitute for schooling and the reverse is also true. College is not a jobs training program, despite it being sold that way. Most of what you need to know to work a career will be learned on the job. That being said, a college degree is not pointless. Employers that require a certain degree are looking for people that have some experience beyond that which primarily qualifies them for a position.

At my job I do a lot of hiring. I look for the required degree first. After that, I look for great experience. The third thing I look for a personal traits, initiative or individual quality. The right degree and experience gets you an interview. But, it's the personal excellence that gets you the job.

[jd1138]

"I also have about 50 undergrad hours in computing but no degree for it. Never had to take a single math class for them. I was going to get an AA, but they said I had to take a speech giving class."


I think I would have taken the speech class, to get the Associate's degree. Every degree helps. I had to take public speaking to get my B.S. degree. Sure I didn't enjoy it, because I am kind of shy, but there were only like 25 people in the class, so it's not like speaking in front of 1000 people or something. It's amazing what you can get used to, if you do it enough times. And they're a sympathetic audience because they all have to do it. This one poor girl passed out due to nerves (she had skipped breakfast and also had low blood sugar which didn't help her nerves) and whacked her head on the wall.