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So I can list every English monarch from William I to Charles the I…in chronological order. But I can’t remember my mother-in-law’s phone number. – Ms. Fix-It
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only if you are not planning on becoming an engineer
Agree. Also, US Presidents list is nearly as useful in Europe as the (put your dearest European country here) kings are in the US
Both are relevant if you ever find yourself on Cash Cab (either the US or UK version)!
Or Jeopardy!
Yes! i was just replying to say the same!
Aw crap.
/Chemical engineering major
Also a chemical engineer!
Ditto!
Me too!!!!
me too
Me too! Wait, nevermind.
Also if you are going to college. After that, not so much…
Wrong. People who work with engineering need to be finding the roots of functions all the time.
that’s why I said “also”
because you need it if you plan on going to college or if you are becoming an engineer, or both…
Or any science major.
Maybe its because I’m a geeky geophysics major, but I think the quadratic equation is beautiful. Perhaps not as beautiful as the pythagorean theorum, but still wonderful.
I have to imagine it comes in handy for some non-science majors as well. Business and management, although not english or art.
Whatever, this graphjam is epic fail in my opinion. I love this stuff and use it constantly.
Yeah, I agree. To put simple math is everywhere. I’m studying engineering right now, and in my opinion, if you don’t know a simple equation like this, and wich is much worse, you don’t even care, then you must be an ignorant fool. MAth, Physics and so on, help us to understand the world better.
But of course you don’t have to know math or anything related to it to succeed in life.
/Sorry for grammar errors and for the wall of text/
Or even going to college. Most of them require basic algebra competency as a graduation requirement regardless of degree.
unless youre a network engineer or a software engineer.
I’m gonna be a software engineer and I need stuff like that all the time. You do realize computer science is a subsection of math right?
I feel sorry for the engineers, like me, who still need to use it.
Either way… that’s just kindergarten stuff.
I feel your pain, im studying engineering at the moment and still have to use it….
Why be sorry? It is a ridiculously useful and usually easy to use formula that retains its usefulness throughout your scientific career. Yes it is kindergarten stuff for science people, but that doesn’t mean it is painful.
And really, if it is that gross, as a proper engineer you should have a scientific calculator with a “find roots” function to speed up the process. Doesn’t work as well when deriving equations, but hey, can’t win them all.
i don’t study anything that involves this equation, however, i don’t understand why everyone here is like “i feel sorry for…blah blah” it really isn’t difficult at all, it was one of the easiest things i used in high school…
oddly enough I still use this alot even in advanced engineering maths this equation pops up and saves the day
True story.
Unless your going to college.
+1
Not nearly as useful for counting change at the Burger King.
you’ll never know…
*you’re
And yeah. I’ve used this, and I’m a biology major…
Thats true unless your in medicine, chemistry, algebra, and biology are used more than you could imagine; calculus and physics not once.
YOU’RE. YOU ARE = YOU’RE.
YOUR = BELONGS TO YOU.
/rage
(I’d be less annoyed if it wasn’t posted as a correction IN THE COMMENT TO WHICH YOU’RE REPLYING!!!)
Thank you. If you hadn’t raged, I would have had to.
Also, Jacob, that would have been much easier to understand without that comma splice, which makes it look like you’re in medicine, chemistry, algebra and biology. [/Grammar Nazi]
To get back on topic, this *is* algebra, so if you’re using algebra “more than you could imagine”, odds are you’ll need this at some point.
PS: I used the quadratic equation in physics.
Yeah its kinda huge in physics, especially when it comes to projectile motion
dude, calculus and physics not once? what the hell have you been learning in that school/college (whatever). If you actually learned calculus and physics at this point you would be solving it without even writing it on a paper.
Hope this guy isn’t planning on going into software.
Might wanna rethink that if you’re going to college/university….just a thought. Unless they think they’re going to be an actor or something. :p
Firstly, this isn NOT a graph.
Secondly, this is not funny! The quadratic formula is super important.
yea I once thought that the imaginary numbers that sometimes pop out are the proof of supernatural powers
You’d be amazed at how useful imaginary numbers are in Alternating Current circuit analysis.
I remember the enormous epiphany I had when they explained that to me xD
Well, then drop out early. You might just miss out on:
http://tinyurl.com/czns2g
http://tinyurl.com/ybntbcl
http://tinyurl.com/36evprx
(aka knowledge and wisdom)
yeah, the quadratic formula is just about the only thing I learned in high school I actually *did* need to know later in life. Boy do I regret dismissing it as useless!
unless you go to college – it is probably the single most useful formula i ever memorized.
Ive found moore’s law to be more useful personally but to each his own.
i used to use this all the time in engineering. now i’m doing biomedical science, i’ve needed it a few times, but not had it at hand.
i’ve just saved this image in my comics folder so i can find it next time i need it
all you have to do is remember the song! sung to the tune of “pop goes the weasel.” i haven’t seen this equation in seven years (since high school… my god, has it really been that long?) and, even though i only looked over it one time about ten minutes ago (before i started reading the comments and getting distracted by a few different things, which i do frequently, like right now, but back to my point), i can sing it to you right now!
x equals negative b plus or minus the square root b squared minus 4ac all over 2a
*checks to see if she was right*
i was right! that thing sticks like glue.
(P.S. sorry if this whole thing is unintelligible, i’m feeling pretty much that way right now. beerLOL)
truthfully, though, if i recall correctly, i could memorize the formula but never was any good at putting it to use. thank god i found a job in which i’m not required in the least to understand math. i suck at math. seriously so bad.
You’ll only never use it after high school if you work a job that can easily be done by someone who never went to school at all.
or doesnt involve that type of math like say an accountant.
i need it a lot
Epic Fail for the one that posted this because that person isn’t or probably won’t reach College level.
QFT
If you think that the quadratic equation formula is completly useless you may better think that:
a) America isn’t a country (USA is though, but can’t compare USA History to WHOLE European History)
b) This formula is more valuable than everything you’ve done (and probably will) IRL
PS: I don’t want a flame war, I just want to show that the OP is quite an ***hole
The person you responded to said nothing about America being a country or not or about American and European history in their comment. Since you brought it up now, yes, America is a country. We are typically called Americans, not United States of Americans. America is short for United States of America just like China is short for People’s Republic of China.
well said
What about the continent? And where are Canada and Mexico located? And Brazil for example is located in South … ? Dur.
The continents are called North and South America, but I’ve never heard either of them individually or both of them put together referred to as just “America”. It is natural to shorten the name of a country when the official name has more than one word, and in this case the most natural way to shorten it happens to use a word that is also in the name of a continent. That doesn’t make the shortened name less valid, especially when the name of the continent is not shortened in the same way. That’s like saying Albert can’t be called Al because Allison also has “Al” in her name.
If you look up the history of what to call a continent (good example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continent ) you’ll find that in 3 out of 5 counting varieties North and South America together are called “America”, and in the other 2 countinv varieties North America still contains Canada and Mexico.
You are totally right to call yourself an American, but a Canadian is also an American, as is somebody from Chile or Peru. In the colloquial language, an “American” usually refers to someone from the USA (at least also here in Germany), because they have no other Denonym to their nationality, as opposed to Mexicans, Canadians, Peruvians, Guatelmalans, Bolivians and so forth. But if you take the meaning literally, “American” actually only specifies somebody from the (two) continent(s) to the West of Europe and Africa.
At least it is like that in the colloquial language, and in English only. Here’s some info on that: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States#Etymology
It would be at least a little bit better if it were after high school and college, and even better if it were “…after high school and college assuming I don’t go into a math/science major.” Of course, that would be less funny…
You don’t even need to be a math/science major. You’re going to have to take at least one math course in college and you’re going to have to know this. Besides, this is probably the easiest math formula to remember (besides Pythagorean Theorem). Dumbass.
Truth be told, most people do end up using a small fraction of what they learned in High School when they get to the “real world.” But you need that general education background to determine what field you are interested in. Think of it not as “stuff I didn’t need” but rather “stuff that pointed me towards what I wanted.”
Well said.
That, and never take pride in ignorance. Even if you never use it, you still know it.
Agreeing with everything said above me, I’d like to add that high school math is useful even if you won’t ever need this particular formula. The broader sense in teaching math is to teach you to solve problems using your logic and intellect. This is a skill that isn’t born with you, it needs to be developed, and if you don’t work on it, you’re gonna end up at a dead end job where you won’t need to solve problems, and will be paid accordingly – until a robot comes along and takes your job.
And besides, WTF is your problem? Your high school education is paid for by your parents and the government; either way, they know why you need to learn that stuff, and they are the ones with the money, so STFU.
I love your final paragraph, so true.
Thank you. TBH I made similar comments when I was in high school. It was in frustration, but still, it was srs bzns for me.
From the outside, teenage life seems so much simpler, right?
I’ve used it loads of times since high school. Yes, I’m a math & science person. What you use from high school depends on what you do afterward. You can do better than this.
I guess you’re ambitions are to manage a wendy’s? Oh wait, you’ll need some math for that to…
your*
Also too*
business math != trigonometry, advanced algebra, or calculus. Sorry.
…factor away.
And thus all the dorks raged.
I hope that you see the irony of typing what you wrote into a computer and posting it on the internet…
And yet a care could not be given.
People are “dorks” for understanding that knowledge is useful? Doesn’t say a lot about you, unfortunately.
by dorks he meant the nerds who are sitting at a college pc or a government job that use the formula on a regular basis but dont actually do any work and sit there all day on the interwebs trolling for re-re’s who post stuff they disagree with.
There’s a chart on the wall of one of hte maths rooms at my university with “When will I ever need to use this?” and a list of various things you learn in high school and early university level maths, then the various careers that use them. It’s very cool. Whoever posted this should see it.
I’m not even an engineering guy, I’m majoring on CS, and a lot of high school math is directly appliable to CS. So if you think you can just slack off on the math, you’re doing it wrong.
Clearly the poster is still in high school. It haunts you in college, buddy.
you’re wrong, i’m a engenieer and use that a lot
I am a professor who teaches finance and economics. I also teach math, computer science and software skills, along with business law. I also used to teach English grammar and composition. A long time ago, I was a canon fire direction specialist. I’ve been a business consultant, too.
To claim that the tools and formulae of elementary algebra (and the quadratic formula is quite elementary in the huge scope of algebra, specifically, and math, more generally) is to display the profound satisfaction of those who are so ignorant that they know not their ignorance.
Compounding that, to proudly display the anti-intellectualism that asserts the uselessness of European history (or any other history, for that matter) is to declare imbecility from the stilts of FAIL Kingdom.
Ignoring, contorting, rewriting, dismissing, and otherwise sneering at history and the broader traditions of thought brought forward to invite use and invention is from the realm of fools and neoconservatives. (But I repeat myself.)
The author of this post has befarted the Cheezburger Network.
(Wait. What? “Befarted”?!)
Enough. Someone find the poster of this article a job with the You-Betcha Girl. It’s a match made in Heaven.
Or someplace.
Well, said. As an engineer, a grad student, and a scholar, I salute you.
For the willfully ignorant out there – if you don’t need to know things such as algebra at your job, then it can be done by a machine.
You know, the ones that people, like myself, who know these things are building.
Let me know how life on the dole is.
Thank you for those kind words, Inquisitor.
This era in which siege is being laid from both neoliberals and neoconservatives to the very concept of public education can be dispiriting, especially when added on to the ever-present, fad-driven education reforms that seem always to be sweeping through academia from one source or another.
Against that backdrop, however, I am finding anymore such a strong sense that every current and former college student, whether mine or not, who values knowledge and the persistent dedication to reason and high thought is part of my intellectual family. It is a genuine feeling, too, inasmuch as I can see, even in the darkest of political and economic times, the way by which civilization carries on, whether or not the empires and nations that pose to it do or not.
As a final note, I am a writer on politics, economics, education, and culture, and have been for a long time, now. I will certainly reply to you, but not to the ignorance embodied in those like the uninformed troll below. Life is too short to waste calling into the chasm that hears nothing but the emptiness of its own void.
Against, thank you for your reply to my original comment.
spoken like a true liberal who’s never had a job that wasnt paid for by the tax payers. It’s the “intellectuals” like you that are teaching our kids mediocrity is best and that they shouldn’t ever hurt anyone’s feelings unless they are republican or white males who arent in some victim group. If you move out of the ivory tower of academia and get a real job you wont use this equation again the rest of your life.
While we’re at it can you explain the logical fallacy to Keynesian economics? probably not since you believe that for every dollar the government takes from the economy to spend in the economy will generate 3 or 4 dollars because you’re a tard.
Spoken like a true ignorant a-hole. Please do the world a favor and take a tumble down a very high mountain.
Real job? Do you mean flipping burgers at McDonalds? Where (I saw at one Mcdonalds, I can’t say for any others) they use Grade F “Edible” meat. More like “EdiBILE”
Ah, the whining of high school children. Like babies, but taller and with hormones.
Many years from now, when you’re grown, you will appreciate (too late), the chance you had to expand your mind through your free education, and regret squandering it.
Unless you don’t plan on taking Algebra in college
Which you need for pretty much every major, as far as I can tell.
Trust me, no matter who you are or what major you are, any college student will be plagued by this irritating little formula. Plus, engineers will be stuck with it for the entirety of their careers….
Completely not true. You use it in college.
The division line isn’t supposed to go under the -b part.
Shows how much you learned.
Yes it should, actually.
Shows how little YOU learned…..
ahahahahahaaaaaaaa!
Of course You won’t use it!
The only question You will receive during your working hours will be ‘two McRoyal and a coke, please!’
wth is a mcroyal?
kinda hamburger at Burger King
You can survive without many things, but some things make life much easier.
I don’t need much of the math I learned in school for everyday life…but there have been many times where remembering a specific formula has helped make a specific task easier…and times I’ve kicked myself for not remembering one, because it would have made things easier.
Formulas like this are much like a car: I can get where I want without it, but I’ll get where I want to go much faster if I use it.
And as Tyberius pointed out, even if you don’t use a majority of the formulas you learn beyond doing schoolwork, the practice of learning and using them exercises the brain and expands your capabilities, in the same way that working out increases your strength and endurance.
well, that high school age kids think they know exactly how the rest of their lives will go is nothing new.
Not true. . . I’m a senior in college and still need to know it. Not an engineer, either. . .
School House Rock planted the Preamble to the Constitution so deeply in my brain that I suspect it will be there forever.
Hold the smug ignorance, and yes, I would like fries with that.
I have used this equation in countless linear numerical model codes as a quick way to calculate roots of a quadratic.
A negative boy was undecided about going to a radical party. He was a square, so he missed out on four awesome chicks. The party was over at 2 a.m.
that’s cute!
Correction: After college. You still have to take a couple of required math courses in college.
I use it every f-ing day
I’ve just finished my maths GCSE’s, and I can sleep well knowing I’ll never have to use it again.
Also, why are there so many engineers commenting on this?
engineers love graphs hence they love graphjam. duh.
Hey I just used this a couple of days ago. Not even in class.
never went to college, did the lowest form of highschool possible.. started my own company and making more in a month then 90% of the engenieer out there… so i call it a WIN
*than* *engineers*
sorry but you fail. try going back to high school.
by the way, being self-employed by cutting grass or cleaning toilets doesn’t exactly constitute owning your own company.
Not if your planning to got to college
This would be far funnier if you got the formula right >_< it's over 2ac.
no it isn’t. definitely over 2a.
I will never forget this because i had a teacher at my high school that sang
this to the tune of “pop goes the weasel” so u would have ppl walking down the hallways singing”X equals negative B, plus or minus square root of B squared minus 4AC, all over 2A”…lols
Lol, love this!
IM SORRY. I was just making a light joke
I can calculate a quadratic equation because of this song I learned
To the tune of Pop Goes The Weasel
X equals negative B
Plus or minus square root
B squared minus 4ac,
All over 2a!
That is incorrect. it’s should be ” b^2 ” not ” -b “
Nope, OP is right, -b, I’ve just done this in school. It’s all right.
walls of texts! walls of texts! TOO MANY! BRAIN MALFUNC…error