[masraum]

Originally Posted by Superman

Statistics is math, in every sense. It is based on probability. The Central Limit Theorem, for example, is a discovery, not an invention. Manipulation of people is not statistics, and not limited to statistics. Any "math" can be used to manipulate, as can non-math information. My business card says "statistician."

My path was similar to Vash's. For a time, I was not trying to understand math. I was just studying enough to pass the tests. That got harder and harder, so I decided to actually learn it. Math became lots more interesting once I actually understood what the formulas were doing. For example, the integral is a way of measuring the area under a curve by creating a series of rectangles of that area, and then collapsing those rectangles so they are infinitely thin and there is an infinite number of them.

It is unsurprising to me that actual mathematicians/actuaries work on theorems in their minds with their spare time. It is fun.

When I took Calc 1-3 the last time, and paid better attention and thought about what was happening, it was a lot more interesting. Realizing and thinking about things like the relationship between the formula for distance, speed, acceleration, jerk, etc... and calculus is interesting. Vectors and calculus is interesting.