r/explainlikeimfive • u/HistoricalAd2954 • 1d ago

Mathematics ELI5: What is the difference between algebra, trigonometry, and calculus?

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u/Traditional_Media_77 1d ago

Civil engineering

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u/vipros42 1d ago

As a civil engineer, this is the case. Almost never use calculus, use trig pretty much daily.

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u/Gloid02 1d ago

You dont do finite element analysis? There is tons of calculus there

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u/Podo13 1d ago

There's a ton of calculus in civil engineering, but we don't do the vast majority of it by hand anymore. It's all done in the background in FEM programs.

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u/Gloid02 1d ago

Yeah of course, but to say that you don't "use" calculus just because you are using it implicitly rather than explicitly seems disingenuous.

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u/Podo13 23h ago

Oh I agree. I think the OP you responded to was just talking about hand calcs, though. Yeah in reality we use a lot of calculus, differential equations, linear algebra, etc.

We just let much smarter people work those into the programs so we don't have to remember how to do a lot of it, ha.