Fibonacci sequence

[Boy Engineer]

'Recreational maths' - I love that term. I've done plenty of that

With reference to geology, self-similarity is certainly present, especially at erosional boundaries, coastlines etc. And formulas can predict detail levels of those I guess:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-similarity

Please don?t post any more interesting links. That?s going to be another evening gone and I?ve got a lot on already. It?s like UKC meets U3A
And I thought an interest in self-similarity was the reason folk put their phone on a stick, albeit in front of something more interesting still.

 

[JoshW]

Degrees have become a requirement mainly to reduce the number of applications that employers have to wade through.

On knuckles - you have 3 on each finger & 2 on the thumb, so 14, but it's quite difficult to maintain 14 different positions to make use of them!

they used their thumb to do the counting, so 3 on each finger and a 'pointer' thumb.

 

[kay]

Interesting conversation with my son "I don't want to go to uni because I don't know what I want to do yet, ...

Suggest they do a 'proper' degree in a subject they find interesting. Perhaps it would lead to an interesting career.

Chris.

If you read the rest of the post, that's what I suggested. Or don't you consider a maths degree to be a proper degree? 

 

[PeteHall]

6 is the number they reckon you can keep track of without having to count.

I once had a job in a magazine warehouse, sorting pallets of each publication into packing boxes to go to the newsagents. We always worked in 3's on the basis that you can always visualise 3 without needing to count them.
They had found that if you tried grabbing more than 3 at a time, you would either take longer due to (subconsciously) counting, or mistakes would be made.  3 was optimum for speed and accuracy.

 

[PeteHall]

Interesting conversation with my son "I don't want to go to uni because I don't know what I want to do yet, ...

Suggest they do a 'proper' degree in a subject they find interesting. Perhaps it would lead to an interesting career.

Chris.

This this this. do something that is going to hold their interest for 3 years plus (if they want to go to uni at all)

From what I've heard, uni isn't the fun it used to be, first excessive fees, so students feel the need to study instead of going caving, now with Coronavirus, it just sounds bloody awful.

If I was that age again now, I'd be asking myself serious questions before going to uni...

Asside from the lack of fun, I'm not sure how well it stacks up careers-wise either any more. For example, we have apprentice engineers, who have gone on to do a degree on day release from work. 5 years after leaving school, they have an engineering degree, 5 years experience, no debt and a deposit for a house.

5 years after school, those that went to uni have an engineering degree, less than 1 year's experience and a motherload of debt.

 

[Fjell]

It's about 2-3% of lifetime earnings for someone earning decent money. The way to get decent money is to go to a top uni. Also gives you options on marrying well, which is double money.

Although if you have the maths, I would recommend economics over engineering these days at a top 10 uni. Right up there with medicine for average earnings.

 

[pwhole]

Do a Fine Art degree, and then it's almost guaranteed you'll never get a proper job ever again. And you certainly won't 'marry well' either, but may have much more fun instead. Worked for me - though I'll die in a ditch for sure

 

[Speleotron]

Although if you have the maths, I would recommend economics over engineering these days at a top 10 uni. Right up there with medicine for average earnings.

Maths and/or computer science would be a better bet for working in finance. Hedge funds can't get enough of maths/compsci PhDs.

 

[PeteHall]

I have an engineering degree from a top 10 uni (albeit a 2.2), my brother has a history degree from a top 10 uni (he got a 1st).
I work in engineering, my brother works in financial management and earns at least 3 times what I do.

I'd speculate that a good degree from a good uni simply demonstrates to an employer that you are capable of learning and capable of working hard, regardless of the subject you choose to study.

Obviously some jobs do require specific subjects and if you aren't sure what you want to do, maths or computer science are probably a pretty safe bet 

 

[Fjell]

https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2018/06/15/which-traits-predict-graduates-earnings

And while you are at it on the subject of maths:

https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/10/03/its-better-to-be-a-poor-pupil-in-a-rich-country-than-the-reverse

 

[ZombieCake]

I suppose it's related to what you like to do.  Money isn't necessarily the be all and end all (although I guess it's very nice to have some).  Three years at university isn't a bad thing, although these days it comes at a price. At eighteen did everyone really know what they wanted to do?  Even if we think we did.
Arts isn't a bad thing, for example we wouldn't have a great film industry (panicdemic aside) if everyone wanted to screw over the stock market for as much cash as possible.  Different people have different aims, and those aims change over time.
I'm certainly doing something very different to what I went to Uni for, and I'm probably still not sure what I really want to do.

 

[Speleotron]

I'm not saying that everyone should do maths so they can be a quant and they must prioritise making money, just that I think it's odd that maths teachers and careers advisors, in my experience, never mentioned that this was an option. In fact the most lucrative branch of mathematics careers wasn't given a mention at all. It's not all about the money but from the point of view of careers advice it's kind of important to talk about it.

 

[Fjell]

I have long concluded that a career you can happily pursue somewhere like North Yorkshire resolves many issues.

 

[Speleotron]

That's true for us maybe but kids need to know about all the options they can choose from.