Is Math Still Relevant?

Long ago, when I was a freshman in engineering school, there was a required course in mechanical drawing. “You had better learn this skill,” the instructor said, “because all engineers start their careers at the drafting table.” This was an ominous beginning to my education, but as it turned out, he was wrong. Neither I nor, I suspect, any of my classmates began our careers at the drafting table. These days, engineers aren’t routinely taught drawing, but they spend a lot of time learning another skill that may be similarly unnecessary: mathematics. I confess this thought hadn’t occurred to me until recently, when a friend who teaches at a leading university made an off-hand comment. “Is it possible,” he suggested, “that the era of mathematics in electrical engineering is coming to an end?” When I asked him about this disturbing idea, he said that he had only been try...

Full article: http://spectrum.ieee.org/at-work/education/is-math-still-...

Tweets

@j2ford » 05 Mar '12, 7am
Is Math Still Relevant? - of course. [link]
@will_samuell » 05 Mar '12, 4am
Is Math Still Relevant? [link] texto muito bom
@LewisJPerelman » 03 Mar '12, 1am
Less M in #STEM?: Is #Math Still Relevant? - IEEE [link]
@rorasa » 02 Mar '12, 3pm
Is Math still relevant? [link] ชอบประโยคสุดท้ายมาก
@hish7 » 02 Mar '12, 8am
Interesting! [link]
@DrHatem » 01 Mar '12, 11pm
Is Math Still Relevant? .. The queen of the sciences may someday lose its royal status .. [link]
@wallingf » 01 Mar '12, 9pm
Back when I received IEEE Spectrum, I always read Bob Lucky's column first. RT @jchyip Is Math Still Relevant? [link]
@HenrikNordborg » 01 Mar '12, 6pm
Is Math Still Relevant? [link]
@thatdecade » 01 Mar '12, 6pm
The universe understands and obeys the mathematics that we humans invented. #powerofmath [link]
@smarquezsolis » 02 Mar '12, 9am
Is Math Still Relevant? [link]
@jchyip » 01 Mar '12, 9pm
Is Math Still Relevant? [link]