Math In Opt. school?

[MolarGuy02]

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Hi all you opto guys and gals. I am a new member here on SDN. I am thinking about opt. school, but one of the things holding me back is the aspect of math. I the type of guy who is great at memorizing things, but my fluid capabilities (e.g. math) are not as strong as I would like them to be. I am wondering how much calc. and math you guys utilize in your classes, e.g. optics classes... Thanks so much in advance.

 

[christie]

Hi & Welcome!

I just started OD school and in Theoretical Optics there is no calculus. You basically deal with a lot of algebra & trig (i.e similar triangles). I must admit, though I find Optics very challenging, it is really interesting. 🙂

 

[cpw]

Christie's right. optics is mostly algebra and similar triangles (still algebra). There's only a little bit of trig (sin,cos, tan). That' s it!! Most of it is how well you can divide things by one! 😉 [at least for thin lens problems]

 

[TAL]

I wouldn't let math discourage you from optometry school. I will add to the above skills both log and natural log functions as things that you need a working knowledge of, I'm seeing them all the time on Vision Science graphs. If you can pass a geometry, an algebra, and a trig course you will be OK, as far as I know.

 

[hema1013]

What gives me the most trouble is adding and subtracting negative numbers... seriously. Also, with all the equations we need to know, I'm always forgetting a minus sign somewhere. I agree with the others, if you can remember the equations, then I think that the math won't be problem.