sorry i dont know where to ask this does computer repair need math

[Bombastinator]

21 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

I’m not sure when the last time you were in school was, but you’re clearly not informed about the curriculum that exists in modern day education. 

A long time ago.  I took it and later it was removed.  Are you saying it’s back?

 

this may be a question of time frame, schooling type, and location.  Different school systems have had radically different systems over different periods.  I was comparing generally over the period between the 1960’s and now in the areas I lived in.  Anything after about the 90’s though is pretty vague.  The trend in general has been downwards generally so far as I can tell.  The post I was replying to was implying the existence of an upwards trend and an unnecessary one.

 

time frame becomes important.  An upwards trend, if it exists which I kind of doubt, judging from spending, would be reaching towards a previous higher standard.  So still effectively low.

[DrMacintosh]

4 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

Are you saying it’s back?

Yes. In my state (California) it’s a requirement that you take Government (Civics) and Economics. 

[Bombastinator]

54 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

Yes. In my state (California) it’s a requirement that you take Government (Civics) and Economics. 

Area and time dependent.  It wasn’t always taught and likely still isn’t taught everywhere.

 

Found one article online from 2015 about civics in California. https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article20444625.html

[IAmAndre]

5 hours ago, Grand Admiral Thrawn said:

I guess that learning maths improves your way of thinking as in "doing something according to instructions". You can't come up with code that isn't intended by the creator of the environment.

Not quite actually. Algorithmics and problem solving are quite different from maths. I graduated from high school with a science background but haven't benefited from it in college, at least in the topics strictly related to programming. And now as a professional when there is a lot of maths involved in a project I'd most likely be working with someone with a typical maths background.

The only way maths can help is when you want to use very advanced maths concepts to solve a problem rather than plain algorithms. That's particularly useful in programming contests or when you're programming in very specific industries.

[Kisai]

12 minutes ago, IAmAndre said:

Not quite actually. Algorithmics and problem solving are quite different from maths. I graduated from high school with a science background but haven't benefited from it in college, at least in the topics strictly related to programming. And now as a professional when there is a lot of maths involved in a project I'd most likely be working with someone with a typical maths background.

The only way maths can help is when you want to use very advanced maths concepts to solve a problem rather than plain algorithms. That's particularly useful in programming contests or when you're programming in very specific industries.

 

I think the thread is drifting very far from the OP's question of "computer repair, does it need math"

 

Like, I'm speaking from 20 years of experience, and the most advanced math I keep having to use is division and multiplication and time on spreadsheet invoices. That's it. Figuring out the right size power supply and UPS for systems is there, but it's also something that calculators exist for.

 

But that's not the end of it. Sometimes you have people ask about things like "do I have enough RAM, or Hard drive space" which is just basic addition/subtraction. It's also just rough guess work, "Ok, to copy your data from X drive to Y drive over the Z bus, that is X GB / Z bus bandwidth and X's maximum transfer speed is Q so maybe three hours assuming the Y drive has little wear on it."

 

Like it never really gets too involved, it's more helpful to be able to give an accurate time estimate for things, but generally you have to know the weaknesses in estimating things. Like:

 

1) Installing/Reinstalling Windows 10: Two hour minimum

2) Transferring 100GB of user data from NVMe to NVMe drive using a SSD USB 3.0 drive as a medium is 364 seconds (550MB/sec) if there's no issues. In practice it's NEVER this fast because SSD's are super slow when involving thousands of tiny files, so more like 30 minutes. A 2.5" Mechanical drive as a medium will be several hours (closer to 3 hours to the drive and 3 hours back from the drive, at about 10MB/sec)

 

Those are the two estimates you can give a low-ball estimate for and go "at least X time"

 

Then you have installing/removing physical equipment. How heavy is that server or UPS? Trust me, too heavy for one person unless you can lift 50kg (110lbs) of deadweight. Which UPS or PSU on a device can be turned off? In which order? Stuff that isn't very often, but you won't be able to just punch in some numbers for a calculator when your hands are full.

 

More advanced stuff involves setting up networking hardware, which doesn't typically involve math, though may involve as an example at the office I do work at power-over-ethernet calculations, which leads back to the PSU and UPS size calculations. So if one UPS is down, and 10% of the POE devices suddenly go offline, what's actually the problem? The switch is still working. Now if you don't know how POE works or where the power for POE comes from, you would not determine that the UPS being offline is the problem since the switch is still online. Rather, the Switch needs both PSU's online and BOTH power cables connected to power the entire POE load. So getting the numbers from the switch would be a much easier way to solve that problem since it would tell you right away that the POE is at 100% and therefor the problem must be the power supply.

 

So again, the most complex stuff is with invoicing. If you can not do the math needed to invoice someone for your time, then it doesn't matter how much of a whiz you are at computer repair, people aren't going to fling cash at you and not expect change.

[mr moose]

It also depends on where you want to be employed, regardless whether you "need" math skill to do the job, if the company expects it as a minimum skill requirement in all employee's and you don't improve your skills,  you limit your potential.

 

On a slight side note,  skills like math can be improved.  The only time people cannot develop their math is when they suffer a genuine intellectual disability.  It is like physical fitness, everyone has the ability to be fit, it just takes hard work and time (something many people really don't like).

[amdorintel]

16 hours ago, Thomas001 said:

And your a system administrator? I thought almost all system administrator jobs required a bachelor’s.

just gotta know someone, nothing is set in stone.