Do med school classes use advanced math?

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Like Fourier transforms, differential equations, line integrals, eigenvalues, etc?

I am hoping I'll never see that stuff again. Being an engineer, I had to take 4 years of math, and the last 2 years were torture.
 
str8flexed said:
Like Fourier transforms, differential equations, line integrals, eigenvalues, etc?

I am hoping I'll never see that stuff again.
Click to expand...
:laugh:

Let me read that again:
str8flexed said:
Like Fourier transforms, differential equations, line integrals, eigenvalues, etc?

I am hoping I'll never see that stuff again.
Click to expand...
:laugh: :laugh:
ahhhh....that was good.

No, you don't use any advanced mathematics. Unless you get into some advanced ortho or PM&R research (like biomechanics), or maybe some bioinformatics and kinetics, the most you'll do is stats.
 
str8flexed said:
Like Fourier transforms, differential equations, line integrals, eigenvalues, etc?

I am hoping I'll never see that stuff again. Being an engineer, I had to take 4 years of math, and the last 2 years were torture.
Click to expand...

No. I believe that biostatistics is the extent of the math you'll be subjected to in medical school. That is, unless of course you are in a MD/PhD program and your PhD component requires something more than that.
 
no but some of the stuff are so beautiful, and pretty useful in solving biological problems if your doing research
 
All I've seen so far were a few very BASIC equations in physiology and biochemistry (and I say "basic" as someone who was notoriously bad at math in undergrad). Don't worry. If you could handle the math on the MCAT you're surely good enough to handle whatever you have to contend with in med school.
 
I still don't understand the whole point of eigenvectors and eigenvalues!!!

str8flexed said:
Like Fourier transforms, differential equations, line integrals, eigenvalues, etc?

I am hoping I'll never see that stuff again. Being an engineer, I had to take 4 years of math, and the last 2 years were torture.
Click to expand...
 
I wish! Ohhhh Fourier transforms.
 
str8flexed said:
Like Fourier transforms, differential equations, line integrals, eigenvalues, etc?

I am hoping I'll never see that stuff again. Being an engineer, I had to take 4 years of math, and the last 2 years were torture.
Click to expand...

...and this is why I majored in biochemistry
 
kidthor said:
I still don't understand the whole point of eigenvectors and eigenvalues!!!
Click to expand...

where should i begin,

orthagonization
steady states
quantum states
and of course all the energy **** associated with it
coefficient of matricies
rank and transformations
etc.

like the heat equation, eigenvalues and eigenvectors didn't just come out of no where, they give easy ways of viewing different concepts. though if all you care about is clinical science, they mean very little to you, well i guess maybe PCA statistical analysis, but haha other than that very little.
 
Definitely NOT.
And i'm so happy!
NO MORE FOURIER TRANSFORMS FOR TEH WIN!!!!!!
 
str8flexed said:
Like Fourier transforms, differential equations, line integrals, eigenvalues, etc?

I am hoping I'll never see that stuff again. Being an engineer, I had to take 4 years of math, and the last 2 years were torture.
Click to expand...

You'll use it quite a bit in pharmacology, but that's about it.
 
med school is all about understanding the basic framework and using it to memorize a crap load of detail. little to no math involved 😀
 
Engineering is a very good major. If med school doesn't work out, you got a job. With a bio or biochem degree, eh not so much.
 
str8flexed said:
Like Fourier transforms, differential equations, line integrals, eigenvalues, etc?

I am hoping I'll never see that stuff again. Being an engineer, I had to take 4 years of math, and the last 2 years were torture.
Click to expand...

you're already accepted into med school, yet you ask this question? did you even look into what you learn in med school a bit?????? I really hope you have some idea of what med school is like.
 
etf said:
if a medical school even asked me to do basic arithmetic, i'd promptly ask for a refund of my tuition.
Click to expand...

That's a little extreme.
For some of biochem and pharm you will need to be able to add, substract, multiply, divide, and with a calculator take a log or antilog. If you can do that you should be golden.
 
ed20.gif
 
I had to break out my cell phone calculator to divide by 4 the other day. even algebra is complecated these days for my minutia encrusted brain.
 
We used some 1st order DEq's for some pulmonary diffusion stuff. Some pharm stuff used them too. I heard that the Harvard MIT program is full on math, but I didn't get in so I couldn't be more specific.

To be honest, your more likely to get tested on your ability to name an equation than actually use it...:laugh:
 
i had to ask a resident what 18x4 was yesterday when i was calculating a heart rate. deal lord, i hate math.















it's 72 btw. and he giggled when he told me.
 
PhotoMD said:
In my experience, you don't really have to know any math to be successful.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I haven't encountered any mathematics beyond high school levels that couldn't be solved with online programs if needed.
 
etf said:
if a medical school even asked me to do basic arithmetic, i'd promptly ask for a refund of my tuition.
Click to expand...

there was math on my last genetics exam (really simple stuff like H-W equilibrium) and my mind was just not capable of it. I knew the equations and everything, and had done them successfully two days prior, but when asked to perform math my mind came to a grinding halt . . . maybe if it hadn't been head and neck block I would have been more capable, who knows. At least it was only like 3pts worth.
 
szhao said:
where should i begin,

orthagonization
steady states
quantum states
and of course all the energy **** associated with it
coefficient of matricies
rank and transformations
etc.

like the heat equation, eigenvalues and eigenvectors didn't just come out of no where, they give easy ways of viewing different concepts. though if all you care about is clinical science, they mean very little to you, well i guess maybe PCA statistical analysis, but haha other than that very little.
Click to expand...

Can we get a psyc consult over here? This (wo)man is speaking gibberish.
 
always lol how they give us calculators to do like 900/60. I don't get how the MCAT requires you to estimate numbers(which I think is a good thing to have), yet in med school they give you calculators.
 
No advanced math in any of the standard curriculum. I still shudder at the (lack) of math skills of certain classmates when we were doing some cardiac physiology problem set and some people couldn't figure out where to start. There were a grand total of three simple equations to pick from. Probably the most painful small group I have ever been through in my life.
 
I'm pretty sure half my class couldn't pass a calculus test right now
 
str8flexed said:
Like Fourier transforms, differential equations, line integrals, eigenvalues, etc?

I am hoping I'll never see that stuff again.
Click to expand...

LOL, nope. The most advanced math we use is maybe exponents and logarithms. So, just keep your pre-calc knowledge in mind. I will say, though, that having taken a couple semesters of calculus did help me solidify my algebra skillz.
 
norman-triangle.gif

During orientation, we all had to solve for the total area of an unusually shaped window. Those that were incapable were dismissed.

Really though, the hardest thing you'll ever have to deal with is algebraic physics equations, and even then, you're mostly just needing to understand the concept, not perform the math itself.
 
People in my biostats class freaked out when we were asked to do two digit multiplication without a calculator. I wouldn't worry about eigenvectors.
 
I doubt that the vast majority of medical students have even heard of half of those things. If you're doing more than elementary school math in med school, you're doing it wrong.
 
i did have to integrate some stuff for fluid mechanics in biophysics in med school.
I was surprised and horrified.
Fourier transform is widely used in signal analasys (usefull in MRI), so if you want to be a badass radiologist/researcher, you better know your stuff.
 
Awared said:
I'm pretty sure half my class couldn't pass a calculus test right now
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure half my class couldn't pass an algebra test right now. If you struggle with dividing 3 digit numbers by 2 digit numbers, your officially on a lower level of math than a 3rd grader.

the math skills of medical students are a complete joke
 
Man I wish I still had my problem sets from quantum mechanics to post here. You guys would soil your trousers. I spent hours solving four questions
 
Espadaleader said:
I literally have not heard anything the OP referred to. Wow.
Click to expand...
Unless you were in a math/physics/engineering track, there's zero reason to take anything beyond calc II or III. So don't feel bad.

Even if you're just super interested in math, it almost stops resembling what the vast majority of people consider mathematics to be once you get to linear algebra and beyond.
 
Psai said:
Man I wish I still had my problem sets from quantum mechanics to post here. You guys would soil your trousers. I spent hours solving four questions
Click to expand...
From my first problem set, which in hindsight I realize to be comparatively easier. This was the day that I realized that I just didn't belong in this class:

upload_2015-1-19_14-17-51.png
 
Most premeds never get beyond calc 1 or 2 (if that), and rightly so as it isn't needed in med school. I was an engineering undergrad so during 1st and 2nd year, every time our small group had to do any math they immediately looked to me and the other engineer. Even for basic math like probability, statistics, exponentials. It was pretty amusing. Then again as an engineer I was always looking to them to confirm when dealing with biochem details and genetics minutae.

Long story short, you won't need it. Nor does the MCAT require anything beyond high school math.
 
No. You can use calculus to derive the kinetic expressions in pharmacology, if it helps you get a sense of them, but nobody will expect you to do this. There are plenty of opportunities to apply mathematical modeling skills in medicine, but you probably won't use anything beyond arithmetic in the basic curriculum of medical school, and trying to apply them to the basic science courses will probably be over thinking the situation. For instance, you could use differential equations to describe the Windkessel effect, but you'll likely never find anything other than a written description on an exam in your cardiology course.

On the other hand, medicine is a dynamic field, and since I mentioned it above, developing hemodynamic monitoring systems that rely on peripheral waveform analysis could be a good direction for research. Depending on what you decide to do with yourself, you could utilize your mathematical knowledge, or completely forget it. The vast majority of career tracks will likely let you forget it.


Edit: Didn't realize this was a "lol -I hate math" thread. Wow, did I ever come to the wrong party.
 
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