Comment Calculus (Score 1) 1153
I did find that I had to use Calculus once, about 12 years afterward in the real world.
I had to calculate summations; learned in Calculus II.
Either I could do it in Excel, and take 50 pages to calculate it, or I could summarize it into a nice little Calculus formula.
I couldn't figure out how to create the formula at the time, so I went ahead with the brute force method and created 50 pages of Excel to get my answer. Thank heavens for Excel.
Then the following day, I looked at the problem again, and derived my simple formula to solve my problem. A skill which I had once learned 12 years prior in some Calculus class I took in College; while questioning, when the heck was I ever going to use such a knowledge in my life.
Now, I can plug that formula into a program, and it will help me solve more questions that would take me 200 pages of Excel to brute force calculate.
Times like that is when you appreciate the beauty of math.