Have you EVER used algebra in your IT career?

[-]

axonxorz@reddit

Used it to calculate the correct position and angle of a projector in a room

[-]

I think my favourite this, is this one: I actually have a copy of an 8-page "paper" I wrote at a previous employer that used algebraic set theory to prove that some people had no idea what they were talking about. There was this MASSSSSSIIIIIIVVVEEEEE and super-complicated SQL query that the "subject matter experts" (on the business side, not technical) swore couldn't be made simpler or faster, with multiple subqueries and unions and shit. More importantly, it was currently returning incorrect results, which is why we were talking about it. I rewrote it, reducing to about 3% of the complexity and speeding it up by something like 20x AND fixing the business logic.

My boss was on my side that their query was absolutely ridiculous and had almost given up the fight to optimize this thing. I told her "I've got this", then showed up at the next meeting with my code and a mathematical proof that it was functionally identical. The SMEs started objecting, but my boss' boss insisted that we go through it... so I stood there, professor-style, going this proof, using terms like "universe of discourse", proving that my team had been right all along.

Of course, none of the objectors actually have a freaking CLUE what was going on, but they also couldn't argue against it.

This is just a small excerpt:

[-]

Dennou@reddit

This is assuming all queries involved are "read only", otherwise substitutions would change business logic, or am I overthinking this?

[-]

alter3d@reddit

In this case it was a fixed query used to load a data warehouse, and part of the point here was to prove that their logic was wrong.

The next paragraph after my screenshot goes on to explain that the simplification shows that the Bx terms -- which were super critical to a subset of the data -- were not even used because they were effectively nullified because one of the other queries was a superset of the data returned by the queries that included the Bxterms, so when you union the two together, you get the data both with and without the Bxterms. This was the cause of the data errors users were seeing, but the query was so insanely complicated that it was extremely hard to debug and the SMEs absolutely refused to acknowledge that the code could be wrong -- they were blaming my team for a modelling error in the BI side.

The logic would hold even if it were parameterized as long as the same parameter was used in multiple places like in this query.

[-]

coukou76@reddit

Great job!!

[-]

sdeptnoob1@reddit

I... I never thought I had a need for that discreet mathematics class in my reading this.

I still don't remember what everything is but I know this is it lol.

[-]

alter3d@reddit

Set theory, regular languages, algorithmic complexity -- discreet math is honestly one of the most broadly useful courses in a CompSci degree.

I think 2 of the best things about that meeting was that I was in my mid-20s at that point, and everyone else in the room was at LEAST a decade older than me, and every time one of the SMEs tried to object, my boss' boss would just ask "which part of the proof is incorrect?" and the SMEs would just do the "ahh ahh ahh..." deer in a headlights thing. Between me and him, it was a complete bloodbath, lmao.

Stay in school, SMEs. :p

[-]

XeNo___@reddit

Also formal logic. Has saved my own ass a few times by now

[-]

Chellhound@reddit

Oh, to have a skip-level boss actually have your back. It's a rare and wonderful feeling.

[-]

Ok_Business5507@reddit

It career? Not that I recall. However I used to program CNC mills and lathes and used both algebra and trigonometry daily.

[-]

penelope_best@reddit

If you use excel then Algebra is there.

[-]

tankerkiller125real@reddit

The only time I use excel is to look at CSV exports from various scripts and tools I've written. Haven't had a need for it for anything else.

[-]

penelope_best@reddit

You never did custom reports and vlookups?

[-]

tankerkiller125real@reddit

Custom Reports, sure in Reporting software, vLookups? LOL hell no, if I get to the point of dealing with vLookups and other advanced Excel concepts I'm pulling out PowerShell or C#. I can barely do basic math formulas in Excel, I'm not touching advanced concepts like that.

[-]

MairusuPawa@reddit

"vlookup" is "advanced"? What?

[-]

altodor@reddit

I'm 10-15 years deep in career here and started using excel for filtering in 2024 and basic arithmetic in 2025. It's not a tool I've needed for anything else before now.

[-]

Maro1947@reddit

There is always an "Excel Dude" to do stuff that's beyond basic stuff

[-]

Turdulator@reddit

gif

[-]

Maro1947@reddit

I have to do a bit more nowadays but TBH, I'm not an expert

[-]

valryuu@reddit

This is an era where "Ctrl + Z" is considered "advanced" for a common user now.

[-]

Darkhexical@reddit

But pandas library

[-]

tankerkiller125real@reddit

I never got past basic math in Excel in schooling, and I've never had the need to go past it either and given that 90% of my job at this rate is dealing with APIs, PowerShell commands, or databases (which all have native calculator like abilities) with the other 10% being hardware issues, I don't generally see a need to learn anything more about Excel for what I'm doing. Hell, the only reason why I use word is to write policies/reports for SOC 2, and even those are going away soon enough.

[-]

Usual-Dot-3962@reddit

Our team needed to cross-reference 3 Excel tables when we had the Crowdstrike issue. I was under the impression VLOOKUP (or the newer XLOOKUP) was common knowledge, but people were staring me when I suggested. Then they said; you do it.

[-]

nandmemoryy@reddit

FYI xlookups are the thing now. If anyone still uses vlookup...well I pray for them.

[-]

penelope_best@reddit

Xlookup is not an option for Office 2019 users.

[-]

krilu@reddit

Office 2019 is not an option for Xlookup users.

[-]

Shendare@reddit

Index and Match, still the versatility king and queen.

[-]

whythehellnote@reddit

xlookup is two better than vlookup

[-]

bindermichi@reddit

Also great for calculating operating costs, capacity forecasts, re-investment plans, ROI and business cases.

You will need money to pay for all those nice toys on your datacenter. And the people with money love to see those numbers.

[-]

tankerkiller125real@reddit

There's proper software to do all that, plus with APIs and built in tools so we can pull data from things like Azure, Google Analytics, Google AdSense, etc. so that all of the data is up to date and we don't have to rely on anyone importing anything or remembering to do things, nor rely on someone doing their math correctly.

[-]

LeadershipSweet8883@reddit

That's probably for the best really. In previous jobs as a sysadmin and doing automation I never really used Excel much, but now I'm in a new role and have a pretty restrictive toolset and now I'm using it a lot more.

Your second paragraph is almost entirely wrong, there are lots of ways to use spreadsheets that are a lot more scalable than individuals typing in information and making a pie chart. You can use PowerApps to make simple applications that display or update data stored in a spreadsheet (or SharePoint List or Dataverse Table) and you can use PowerAutomate to automatically refresh data from other sources and PowerBI to make dashboards that pull data from multiple spreadsheets or even SQL DBs.

At the end of the day if you are implementing all this you are probably going to want a better tool for data storage than an Excel spreadsheet but you can pretty quickly get up to a working application and dashboard and later migrate it over to better data storage. Plus it really helps sell things to nontechnical people when it's just a spreadsheet under the hood for some reason.

[-]

Turdulator@reddit

Who’s manually loading data?

[-]

bindermichi@reddit

If you actually put in all that data manually.

For me excel is a convenient database frontend for prototyping applications. So I would usually connect the spreadsheet to SAP and capacity management tools to create the base data set to work from.

[-]

ElectroSpore@reddit

Never used a pivot table to gather some stats from those CSVs in seconds?

[-]

tankerkiller125real@reddit

99% of the time, if I had a use for Pivot Tables, it probably means I'm going to need it more than once, which means I simply update my tooling/scripts to give me the correct data from the start.

[-]

ElectroSpore@reddit

I use it to validate the scripts. If they agree good if not excel is good for reviewing tabular data.

I also use it to find data error if I have a script failure, like if there is a duplicate record when all rows are expected to be unique.

Much faster than grep sometimes as grouping and counting is just two clicks in excel.

[-]

purplemonkeymad@reddit

This is all I do too, but people still think I must know everything excel when I just use the format as table option. Like yea that gives you the option to filter and sort, I don't know how to make pie charts or do a mailmerge; nevermind the complicated formula that would probably be better as a SQL query on a database.

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The69LTD@reddit

Same. I rarely if ever use office apps even outlook. Our ticketing system handles it all. I just am forced to use buggier than shit teams

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telestoat2@reddit

I use excel all the time for stuff like planning some cables to order, and algebra is in formulas like this many switches need so many patch cables and 2x transceivers per patch cable.

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Szeraax@reddit

I just open csvs in vscode now. Lol, love the colorize

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dude_named_will@reddit

But what if we just use Excel as a database?

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radraze2kx@reddit

makes a 1-column list in excel did I do the algebra?

[-]

symcbean@reddit

Yes.

And trigonometry.

And calculus.

And statistics.

Have you never modelled anything? How do you do capacity management? Risk analysis?

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Darth_Malgus_1701@reddit (OP)

I'm not at the experience level as most of the people here.

[-]

GreenChileEnchiladas@reddit

Of course. All the time.

Variables come in very handy in all aspects of life and work.

[-]

TopTax4897@reddit

Yes. I remember being told multiple tines as a kid how important algebra is and how its needed for computer science and whatnot. Its one of the few things I was told that I remember realizing was very true.

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itah@reddit

Thats not really algebra specific, though. Those are the very basics of math.

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TopTax4897@reddit

Britannica (not necessarily a definitive source since mathematicians might define it differently) as:

"algebra, branch of mathematics in which arithmetical operations and formal manipulations are applied to abstract symbols rather than specific numbers."

https://www.britannica.com/science/algebra

To at least most Americans, the concept of variables and formulas that utilize variables is introduced in Algebra class. Other mathematics and we learn, including computer science, build on this. Maybe there are other definitions of Algebra, but if a student skips algebra class in school they will struggle with computer science. That's my approach to the question, since its often about what we are taught in school.

[-]

Icy_Mc_Spicy@reddit

That’s literally Algebra dude. A mathematical expression that uses variables to represent an unknown number.

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itah@reddit

Algebra is about algebraic structures and algebraic expressions. Variables and expressions in general are used in every branch of mathematics. Like a random variable is part of the stochastics domain and doesn't even represent a number but a function.

[-]

Fine-Finance-2575@reddit

I hope this isn’t some stupid comment by OP about why they have to take algebra in college. I went all the way through differential equations and rarely use the calculus sequence in life.

That wasn’t the point of your math courses. It was to teach you critical thinking and tenacity.

[-]

Yupsec@reddit

Oh yeah, especially in "DevOps" as OP asked. I barely paid attention to most of the math stuff when I was in college. Why would I need to know all this math, I was going to be a System Engineer!

Didn't realize I'd end up writing tests for apps, writing API's, and so on. Queue devouring Khan Academy material to relearn Big O Notation and logarithmic functions.

[-]

420shaken@reddit

I think this is probably the closest answer to yes. If I know A and C or maybe A and B, then what's left is usually easy to find. If it was as easy as 4+4, then everyone could do IT and there's no need for me. That and trying to determine when there are problems when too much info is given. Not totally math in nature, but the principles to solve are similar.

[-]

8-16_account@reddit

It's not as easy as 4+4, but it's as easy as 4+x=8, which is pretty damn close.

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Fluffy-Cell-2603@reddit

I just learned grammar by applying my understanding of functions.

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postconsumerwat@reddit

Compound interest of backstabbing

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BrokenPickle7@reddit

I’m a sys admin/cloud engineer and I count on my fingers

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Icy_Top_6220@reddit

Funnily enough that’s what lots of AI is based on… who thought that one may want to know this again ever indeed…

[-]

mrdeadsniper@reddit

Someone link the story about emails failing at 500 miles.

[-]

ShakataGaNai@reddit

This entire forum is an excellent example in why our schools need to teach the PRACTICAL applications of math. Even a carpenter or electrician will uses the pythagorean theorem regularly. But teaching these things as theoretical to kids is a quick way for them to mostly be bored and not give a fluff.

[-]

Darth_Malgus_1701@reddit (OP)

You can say "fuck" here.

[-]

countsachot@reddit

Every day.

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SwertiaRadiata@reddit

You won't

[-]

ac1977@reddit

No but I recently used trigonometry to align a wireless bridge over 1.1 miles. Had to use trig because I couldn't see the other end to align it by eye. And it was only out by 0.8 degrees. I impressed myself.

[-]

ConspiracyHypothesis@reddit

Yep!

How many laptops can we buy with this budget?

If I have a /26 subnet with 41 servers on it, how many can I add before I'm going to need more IPs?

All day every day.

[-]

Darth_Malgus_1701@reddit (OP)

How did it take you to where you could do that math in your sleep?

[-]

ConspiracyHypothesis@reddit

I don't do math in my sleep- I'm not very good at it. I use a calculator (or excel, usually)

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Darth_Malgus_1701@reddit (OP)

I didn't mean literally, I meant until it became second nature. But you use a calculator. OK. Thanks.

[-]

pdp10@reddit

IPv4 binary math? Can't remember; maybe two to four weeks.

They can add 21 IPv4 addresses before maxing out the /26, but if that's a realistic possibility then they need to work on a new allocation right away.

[-]

Dan_706@reddit

Basically all of us use some form of calculator, but I've sat through a number of exams where I've been provided with a set of IP ranges and been expected to show my working on paper.

E.g. "You've been provided with the following range 10.36.30.0/25

Provide the network mask, network ID, broadcast address, first valid host, actual IP range and total available IPs in this range. Show your working."

To answer your question about it becoming second nature, at first this was so abstract to me I struggled to learn it properly until I found someone who showed me a method of manual subnetting that clicked for me. Many years later, it seems trivial.

[-]

TheGreatAutismo__@reddit

Dude guy, the people that can calculate math off the top of their head in an instant are not as common as Hollywood makes them out to be.

You ever hear that light tutting sound people make as they are thinking? That is far more common.

[-]

altodor@reddit

Not that guy: I use a calculator for the arithmetic but the equation is just from breaking down the problem and having been good at word problems.

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shotsallover@reddit

At our current data acquisition rate, how long before the NAS is full?

How much paper do I need to order to seep our printers stuck until next quarter?

How many WiFi nodes will I need to cover XXX sq feet?

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fresh-dork@reddit

How many WiFi nodes will I need to cover XXX sq feet?

trick question: there's an MRI machine/old brick building/faraday cage from the plaster in the walls.

[-]

popegonzo@reddit

I just imagined a real life IT version of some of my kids' math problems. "If we have a 2 TB staff drive and an 8 TB archive drive, and we're using 900 GB of active storage with 4.5 TB of the archive, and goddamn Jerry at public works doesn't know how to keep his documentation videos short, how long until we need a new SAN?

[-]

angrytwig@reddit

I use PEMDAS in excel when my coworkers can't. "Don't you remember PEMDAS?" "NO I'M TOO OLD" ok, guess you don't want to relearn so you can make your own formulas.

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ShadowSlayer1441@reddit

Even with PEMDAS, I'm too paranoid to not make it redundant with parentheses.

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SpezIsAWackyWalnut@reddit

"Does this particular language I'm working in today understand order of operations? Wait, nevermind, it's faster to assume it doesn't than to work out whether or not it does."

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pdp10@reddit

This. In any programming interview with order of ops questions, you tell 'em you're using more parenthesis than John McCarthy so order of ops doesn't matter.

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altodor@reddit

"Does the person who's going to read this later know PEMDAS? Actually ya know, I'll just make it explicit so there's no question"

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XCOMGrumble27@reddit

This is the real reason to wrap everything in parentheses. Keep the code unambiguous.

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angrytwig@reddit

i've made like 20+ line excel formulas where a misplaced parentheses fucks you. and excel doesn't IDE your shit for you with nice color coding and indents. :( that's what happens when your client doesn't want to buy software and makes you build a calculator instead. i made this whole thing and no one would use it because they looked at the formulas and got scared. :( i'd rather be doing that than teaching users how to toggle their reading panes in outlook, tho, or teaching them how to turn on their laptops

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ZAFJB@reddit

excel doesn't IDE your shit for you with nice color coding and indents

That's why I choose VBA over Excel formulas for anything past slightly complex.

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boli99@reddit

NO I'M TOO OLD

this just means 'you did it for me last time when i said this, so im going to say this again, and reduce the problem to one previously solved'

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angrytwig@reddit

I do give up when people start mentioning their age. I think it's bullshit but I don't need HR after me for ageism

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fresh-dork@reddit

don't forget: two kinds of multiplication. implicit multiplication comes first

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GermanSayingSquirrel@reddit

PEMDAS? PEBKAC!

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Walk_inTheWoods@reddit

Op do you know what algebra is?

[-]

Darth_Malgus_1701@reddit (OP)

Yes I do. I was just curious.

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Pallidum_Treponema@reddit

I don't want to be rude, but if Algebra is difficult for you, then maybe IT isn't the ideal career for you.

If you can't figure out the answer to your question without resorting to asking Reddit, then honestly your deductive skills may not be sufficient to do IT at any kind of higher level.

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Darth_Malgus_1701@reddit (OP)

You're reading way too much into my question.

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Pallidum_Treponema@reddit

Maybe, maybe not, but if someone on my staff asked a question like that, it'd raise some serious red flags.

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Darth_Malgus_1701@reddit (OP)

Why? There was no other motivation in my question besides a yes or no. And I got an variety of answers. So why would it raise a red flag?

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Pallidum_Treponema@reddit

As you can tell by the answers, pretty much everyone answers a resounding yes in one way or another. To me, it's a no-brainer that the answer is yes. Pretty much everyone who works in IT knows that algebra in one form or another, be it variables, spreadsheets or raw algebra, is a fundamental requirement for doing the job.

The fact that you ask this question in the first place is a huge warning sign to me that you wasn't aware that the answer would be so overwhelmingly positive. If you were, you wouldn't be asking this in the first place.

This makes me wonder why you can't deduce what the answer is in the first place. Are you not aware of how much Algebra plays into everyday IT life? What else that is so easy to deduce aren't you aware of?

This would be a red flag for me. One red flag on its own isn't a deal breaker, but that in combination with other indicators would make me question your skills.

Be aware that in a workplace, you are constantly being evaluated. By your bosses, your coworkers, your clients and your subordinates. Indicating a fundamental lack of understanding of what is required for your field of work... well, that's a negative score on your account. You will lose a certain amount of standing among those who interact with you. Lose enough standing and people will question your competence.

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Darth_Malgus_1701@reddit (OP)

So, I'm not cut out for IT and just give up on that goal and go do something else like flip burgers? I'm not being an asshole with that question, it's genuine.

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grygrx@reddit

I suspect not given you answers.

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Darth_Malgus_1701@reddit (OP)

OK.

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riesgaming@reddit

If I have a problem and it gets fixed randomly by magic, I just figure it was algebracadabra 😌 so yes🫡

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havens1515@reddit

Literally daily. Probably dozens of times per day. The fact that you have to ask tells me that you either don't understand what IT is, or you don't understand what algebra is

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Darth_Malgus_1701@reddit (OP)

Why do you say that?

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ZaitsXL@reddit

As sysadmin probably never, but all those visual filters, deep fakes and tiktoks use it heavily

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Monk19999@reddit

Calculating subnets in my head because... Yeah, just wanted to be able to do that.

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binarywheels@reddit

Only when programming.

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hainesk@reddit

You don’t use variables?

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Darth_Malgus_1701@reddit (OP)

Yes I have. I just royally suck at programming and scripting. I just cannot for the life of me git gud at coding. It really pisses me off.

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hainesk@reddit

You should try learning algebra lol. It's super helpful when it comes to programming since programming is basically the practical application of algebra.

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Darth_Malgus_1701@reddit (OP)

I did learn it. Actually understood it for the most part. But programming? I'm up shit creek as far as understanding it goes.

Theory I can grasp. But applying it is another can of worms.

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FlibblesHexEyes@reddit

The thing about programming is breaking a task up into its component pieces.

If you try to start thinking about the steps involved in accomplishing a task, it makes programming far easier.

For example, if you wanted to move a file somewhere (ignoring that all OS's these days have a move command) and you wanted to overwrite an existing file with the same name, you could do the following pseudocode:

set SourceFile="C:\TestFolder\HRList.txt"
set DestinationFile="C:\AnotherFolder\ListOfPeopleIDontLike.txt"

if SourceFile exists then
  if DestinationFile exists then
    delete DestinationFile
  end if

  copy SourceFile to DestinationFile
  delete SourceFile
end if

This is obviously a very simple program, but the idea here is to show breaking things up into their component tasks and using variables to substitute for actual values, so you don't have to keep writing the value over and over again.

Your first scripts/code are going to look atrocious, and likely full of bugs. Don't let this stop you though! We all start somewhere after all - and for most of our scripts/code, it usually only needs to work once to get the job done.

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stoltzld@reddit

Then after that, working out stuff that could potentially go wrong....

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FlibblesHexEyes@reddit

Debugging is learning how to fail :)

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stoltzld@reddit

Debugging is figuring out exactly what you or someone else has failed at.

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krilu@reddit

That stuff usually works itself out ;)

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ReptilianLaserbeam@reddit

Try learning mathematical logic. If you understand that coding will be a piece of cake.

[-]

ZAFJB@reddit

mathematical logic

AKA Boolean algebra.

Some keywords for research:

Operators: AND, OR, NOT and XOR.
De Morgan's laws.
Karnaugh maps.

[-]

ReptilianLaserbeam@reddit

That’s the beginning of it, but not only Boolean algebra, also automatons, regular expressions, etc, etc.

[-]

gordonv@reddit

Bro, I was writing basic programs in the 4th grade.

Also, I bet your problem isn't the math. It's understanding written context. Basically, your English classes.

Once you understand the basic context of programming and give it a little practice, it becomes usable and practical.

[-]

Darth_Malgus_1701@reddit (OP)

That's it right there. That's my problem.

[-]

gordonv@reddit

In the r/cs50 course, the first programming language you use is scratch.

This is great because all that exhausting wordy syntax is simplified into puzzle blocks. So it's like you're playing with those giant kids lego blocks instead of reading impossible code.

It's actually quite refreshing to see. Something so intimidating to so many simplified to a 3rd grade level.

[-]

SifferBTW@reddit

Think of programming as geometry or trigonometry proofs. You have a desired end result that you must get to in logical steps.

You want a script to shoot off an email when a task is completed (or failed)? What steps would you take to complete the sequence of events manually? You just need to replicate those steps in the script. The hardest part, if you're new, is translating it via syntax. There is a plethora of documentation on all scripting languages.

The only way to get better at it is to practice. When I first learned programming, I would script EVERYTHING. It didn't matter how basic or advanced it was. Eventually things just started to click and I'd remember syntax.

[-]

hihcadore@reddit

Take a formal class on something like Python. That’s what did it for me. My college (WGU) had a Python class that went really deep into coding logic. It helped me a lot.

[-]

Darth_Malgus_1701@reddit (OP)

I did. Problem is that it was all online and not in-person and I just cannot learn that way.

[-]

schwarzekatze999@reddit

Go to community college if you can. Take classes at night if needed.

[-]

Darth_Malgus_1701@reddit (OP)

That's where I went. The problem is that it was all online and not in person.

[-]

gordonv@reddit

r/cs50

Learn the basics of coding via a structured class. Not social networks, bad googling, or bad videos.

[-]

stoltzld@reddit

You should start with the simple stuff like how to use a spell checker, or pay attention to squiggly red lines....

[-]

Darth_Malgus_1701@reddit (OP)

Spellcheck is no problem. The red lines are another issue. Understanding why those red lines are there is sometimes a major headache for me.

[-]

stoltzld@reddit

Right click to correct, Google, or both.

[-]

chandleya@reddit

Choose to learn everything you do by command line. Then choose to save those commands into scripts. Then read about using variables to replace your manual values throughout the script. Then externalize those variables to be included at runtime.

Hell, download SQL Server Developer Edition ISO. Extract the contents wherever you like. Read the manual on unattended install. Use the /QS flag. Watch Magic. It’s not scripting, but it’s a pretty capable gateway drug.

[-]

cpz_77@reddit

Indeed, this is good advice if you’re currently in IT but unfamiliar and/or uncomfortable with scripting (but want to learn). Being that scripting languages are generally interpreted and not compiled (though there are some that can be compiled if you want to), scripting is really just stringing together a multitude of CLI commands (and wrapping some into functions , for each loops or whatever). But a solid understanding of the CLI and core commands in whatever the main shell platform(s) are in the systems you work in most often (BASH or another *sh on Linux , cmd and powershell on windows) will go a long way towards making you a productive scripter. And general comfort on the CLI will for sure make you a much more efficient admin overall.

Start small and work your way up. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t say it’s “easy” or that you’ll be a scripting master overnight but you can get there even if it seems impossible at first. Save every bit of code you write. Add code snippets to your notes from examples you find that might be useful (even if you may not need them today). Soon you’ll be saying to yourself “I know i have an example of something similar to in my notes”, which makes it easy to refer back to instead of having to go search the internet again to try and find it, and you can use that as the basis for solving the problem you’re currently working on. Slowly but surely, more and more of it will become habit and you’ll need to look stuff up less and less.

You wouldn’t believe the number of IT teams, even with senior engineers on staff that don’t have a single person that is capable of writing any sort of non-trivial script. But it’s such a powerful tool if you do have that capability (or someone on your team does) as it opens all sorts of new doors for solutions to problems or improvements to processes you might encounter. It really is a valuable skill and you increase your value as a sysadmin drastically the better you are at it, because it’s such a rare skill to find.

[-]

Darth_Malgus_1701@reddit (OP)

I do have some VMs set up already to try to teach myself some stuff. I'll add this to the repertoire. Thanks!

[-]

Sovey_@reddit

foreach ($thing in $stuff) {
doTheThing()
$counter++
}

Algebra!

[-]

Hotshot55@reddit

Unfortunately, I've met a rather large number of people who can't understand variables.

[-]

holiday-42@reddit

Not in IT though, correct? Please say yes.

[-]

DontTakePeopleSrsly@reddit

I wish I could, but sadly; no

[-]

OmenVi@reddit

Worked with a guy who got a 2yr IT degree while I was working with him. Part of it was DEFINITELY programming. One day he asks for help on how to approach building a powershell script for something pretty simple. I started explaining, and lost him immediately. “You know what an array is…” was a statement I made, not a question I asked. But he did not know. “Ok, so like, if it were a variable instead…” Yeah, no clue.

This guy graduated with a 3.9 GPA from that program. Cheated the whole way through. Learned nothing.

And he is the example for why I don’t believe that a degree or high GPA is proof that someone knows anything.

Fuck you, Justin.

[-]

music2myear@reddit

I had several generations of interns from a local technical college that had a pretty decent IT program. They weren't bad, but they had very skewed views of what IT was in the real world. It confirmed to me that college education for IT is, at best, only slightly beneficial, and at worst, worse than nothing. I'll take someone with aptitude and drive over someone with a degree and years of nonsense piled between their ears.

Also, the grandma's gushing that their grandkid is "so good with technology" are nice and well meaning, but they think mobile devices, touch interfaces, and game consoles count as "technology experience". 30-45 year olds fresh to a job are far better at real business technology in every way than anyone younger. Kids growing up with mobile devices USE technology more, but they are kept apart from the guts of the system, the underlying logics and code and effort required to make that technology work, and they have NO conception of the norms of functional and productive business technology.

[-]

wrt-wtf-@reddit

Universities are now drafting or have policies to allow ChatGPT. They can’t easily recognise it so they are letting it through.

This leads back to the lack of a combined sociology and ethics subject that should exist in first year for all students. They should also be made aware that the consequences of cheating with AI outside of an AI based subject can lead to further review and potential expulsion.

Allowing ChatGPT as a Uni policy will only lead to a lack of trust between the university and industries, such as Engineering and Medicine that dovetail the university degrees with industry bodies.

No professional in the working world wants a graduate that knows as much about their subjects as they did before they went to Uni/college. Even for companies, such as IBM, that just wanted you to have a degree as proof you could commit and complete a major body of work, would surely have to rethink their policies toward graduates and new hires.

The potential of hiring dead weight increases and devalues the degrees of those that have done the right thing.

[-]

XCOMGrumble27@reddit

This is all going to end in a Butlerian Jihad, but no one is willing to nip this whole thing in the bud prior to that becoming an absolute necessity to restore our collapsed society.

[-]

wrt-wtf-@reddit

Dune fan - but had to look it up.

[-]

Lanko@reddit

Actually, now that you mention it, I don't think my core program covered those things either. I took a 2 year network administration diploma program which covered a lot of windows server, Cisco certs and a few other things, but when I was done I had 0 programming skills. I went back and signed up for more to fill the gaps after the initial core 2 year program completed.

[-]

RedditorWithRizz@reddit

I know what an array or variable is. Please hire me 😂

[-]

Total-Concentrate144@reddit

Just like arrays, salary starts at 0.

You in?

[-]

XCOMGrumble27@reddit

Can it start at -1 instead?

[-]

Total-Concentrate144@reddit

I'll give an exception in this instance

[-]

RedditorWithRizz@reddit

Something is better than nothing I guess so yes

[-]

TheGreatAutismo__@reddit

Sadly not, we need 30 years Reddit experience.

[-]

stephenph@reddit

I had a friend that was fairly good at school (3.8 gpa) but was not able to convert the book learning to real life. He could figure out the answer, but was unable to form the question and any questions had to be very specific. Last I heard from him he had given up a tech career and was teaching, history I believe.

[-]

siggyt827@reddit

Oh I heard about those array thingies! They start at 1, right?

[-]

GitMergeConflict@reddit

Worked with a guy who got a 2yr IT degree while I was working with him. Part of it was DEFINITELY programming.

Went to a relatively good French engineering school:

I met a guy who graduated without programming, he specialized in networks and telecommunications to avoid programming projects, he was not even able to write pseudo code on paper.
Many guys good at writing algorithms on paper but not able to implement anything in real life, also apply to a few teachers
A student who 100% relied on me in cpu architecture class because she could not learn C and pointers in one semester of 3rd year
Once I was in a group of networks specialists in fucking year 5 and nobody knew how to program sockets, not speaking about threads

This was 20 years ago in year 4 and 5 and there are plenty of other examples. Yes there are very smart and competent persons in engineering school, but a good 50% of them are not technical at all, they're here to "learn how to learn by themselves", which is a nice way to say their only skill is to write bullshit reports. We were taught that we are the elite, and we should not degrade ourselves with anything technical, we will eventually have the time to learn technical stuff on the job.

Since then, I've never trusted anybody based on their degree and always tried to remove the degree requirements imposed by HR.

[-]

CriticismTop@reddit

My son is currently studying engineering at a "grand école" (think Oxbridge/Ivy league non french people) and it amazes me how little his friends (and him) know about anything computer related. Literally none of them understand the difference between a compiled and interpreted language. They certainly cannot get their heads around NAT.

Literally all of them will end up in highly paid consultancy companies though because of the network those schools have.

[-]

shotsallover@reddit

I hope you were able to performance review him out the door.

But I have a gut feeling he got promoted to management.

[-]

OmenVi@reddit

At one point he was struggling so hard in his "Lead" role atop the service desk that his boss paid a visit to see why, and upon leaving, asked me to keep tabs on him.

But he eventually left to head up a help desk for a nearby police dept., so you're not too far off.

[-]

Dan_706@reddit

I wager there's a whole term labelled "automation" or something that includes a lot of PowerShell.

Justin sounds like a treasure to work with lol

[-]

i-sleep-well@reddit

This answer makes me want to find a different career. Something with more prestige.

I'm thinking longshoreman, ice cream man, car detailer, ticket taker...Restroom attendant?

[-]

goodb1b13@reddit

I hear President is one of those..

[-]

Wickedhoopla@reddit

That made me sad…so maybe sad clown

[-]

JazzlikeSurround6612@reddit

Oh sweet summer child.

[-]

cpz_77@reddit

Heh, no unfortunately a lot in IT have a hard time understanding the concept..

[-]

BadSausageFactory@reddit

well they're always changing, that's the problem

[-]

pwnwolf117@reddit

Take my damn upvote

[-]

BADDEST_RHYMES@reddit

This is a constant problem

[-]

nascentt@reddit

That's having computers do algebra for you. Using algebra is you doing the calculations and storage in your head.

[-]

Dontkillmejay@reddit

Ah good point, Boolean Algebra.

[-]

fresh-dork@reddit

algebra predates variables and general acceptance of negative numbers

[-]

Special_Luck7537@reddit

Variables won't, constants aren't... and calculator is your friend.

[-]

ParoxysmAttack@reddit

I guess technically yes, I do use algebra then. Well played.

[-]

Daneyn@reddit

This is the correct answer, using variables in scripts is a form of algebra in daily life for us.

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gachaGamesSuck@reddit

lmfao

[-]

random_user163584@reddit

Linear algebra, of course. Arrays, matrices and stuff

[-]

BeefWagon609@reddit

You spelled trigonometry wrong.

[-]

Raoul_Duke_1968@reddit

No more than a couple times a week my entire life/career?

I think people misunderstand the basic point of Algebra. It's the same as basic dimensional analysis in physics. You stop thinking of things as an equation with an equal sign at the end with a question mark and instead a variable that can move from one side on the equation to the other.

You are always solving for a variable (unknown) and you just move to one side by itself to get the answer. You do it all the time without thinking about it.

[-]

FoCo_SQL@reddit

I do, but I work in data. When it was just sys admin work, I'd probably use a little but nothing that couldn't be figured out quickly.

[-]

BigBobFro@reddit

All the time actually.

Hit rates, remediation rates, fail rates,.. etc. plug these over time and analyze the curve.

[-]

g3n3@reddit

Yeah when I was playing with a t-sql predicate.

[-]

vNerdNeck@reddit

we use algebra every day:
How much memory, cpu, capacity do we need.

how long is a file going to take to transfer

what's the cost per GB.

Just about every equation you do, is algebra.

[-]

CryktonVyr@reddit

Do determine my possible salary raise yes.... It seems I suck at math.

[-]

CRTsdidnothingwrong@reddit

If a file transfer is proceeding at 190Mbps and the transfer size is 3.8TB how long does it take to ask wolfram alpha how long it's gonna take.

[-]

jtczrt@reddit

Trick question. It is clearly gonna take 15 minutes.... 5 minutes... 39 seconds.... 10 minutes... 2 days

[-]

music2myear@reddit

Chaos theory enters the chat.

[-]

mercurygreen@reddit

A week because wolfram alpha doesn't know that 190Mbps is a lie.

[-]

Not_A_Van@reddit

Its 190 on the 4 random video files in a sea of 50000+ 27kb documents

[-]

music2myear@reddit

IBM-published installer package enters the chat.

[-]

xxbiohazrdxx@reddit

Buddy if you aren’t using robocopy with 64 threads this is on you

[-]

c3corvette@reddit

This guy NTFS.

[-]

SoftwareHitch@reddit

I understood that pointer

[-]

NightH4nter@reddit

...or smb-s. or nfs. all file sharing stuff feels like utter garbage, i'm sorry

[-]

SolidKnight@reddit

You put it all in a WIM then move the WIN around.

[-]

spicylawndart@reddit

This is why rclone is the tits. You can specify chunk size if you’re pushing to S3 compatible storage.

[-]

hainesk@reddit

I know this is a joke, but this would just be a simple equation, no algebra needed lol.

[-]

oldspiceland@reddit

"A simple equation" is algebra friend. You’re solving for X. The mathematical format for that word problem would look like X = 3.8e12/(19e7/Second) where X is the Seconds in total.

Just because you can use simple arithmetic to solve an equation doesn’t change what it is. You solve quadratics with simple arithmetic as well, doesn’t change what they are.

[-]

hainesk@reddit

You can write simple equations as algebraic equations (2+2=X, solve for X), but you don't need to know algebra to solve this problem.

[-]

Obi-Juan-K-Nobi@reddit

The fact is you know some algebra if you can solve this problem.

[-]

hainesk@reddit

You also understand Arabic numerals if you can write these numbers, but I don’t think that is what OP is talking about… it’s like completely missing OP’s point.

[-]

Obi-Juan-K-Nobi@reddit

OP’s point is really not communicated well, so I think I hit it that on.

[-]

DadLoCo@reddit

You forgot the end of the question: “…travelling at the speed of light past three men who took four days to mow a lawn of six acres.”

[-]

Dabnician@reddit

are talking like standard windows file transfers?

because then its going to be 0%-99% will take approx 15minutes, 99%-100% will take another 1 second.

however the length of 1 second is X / Y, where X is the size of the file and Y is whY the fuck is it stuck at 1% remaining for the last 36 hours.

[-]

4thehalibit@reddit

This guy has installed office a few time

[-]

AGenericUsername1004@reddit

Basically a standard windows XP install back in the day.

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Hel_OWeen@reddit

Because Windows Explorer doesn't know of all the other processes (e.g. AV), that grabs the file and have a look at it. Or various hardware caching that might go on.

[-]

bavedradley@reddit

Happened to me earlier today moving a 100mb file to a network drive. That last 1% took three times as long as the entire file to copy.

[-]

stoltzld@reddit

Probably had to sync to disk to get the correct metadata.

[-]

Ssakaa@reddit

Y is whY the fuck

Perfection.

[-]

dollhousemassacre@reddit

Would you like the answer denoted in metric, imperial, Microsoft Minutes?

[-]

Pelatov@reddit

This is the only correct answer

[-]

TheLightingGuy@reddit

If a file transfer is proceeding at 190Mbps and the transfer size is 3.8TB how long does it take to ask ~~wolfram alpha~~ ChatGPT how long it's gonna take.

FTFY.

[-]

Browntrouser@reddit

The answer to this question is. Idc how long it takes. I need the transfer completed.

[-]

Special_Luck7537@reddit

Yeah, this....

[-]

PrudentPush8309@reddit

The trains will collide at 4:45pm on Friday and there will be an All Hands meeting about it at 5:15pm. If you have already left the office and have just walked into your house, you still have to come back to the office for the meeting.

[-]

Special_Luck7537@reddit

Or work the entire weekend, then stick around Monday morning for a meeting to tell the entire C level and your boss, who you called 3 or 4 times over the weekend, what happened. Nothing like being supported by your mgr....

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Dabnician@reddit

Sounds like a r/comptia PBQ

[-]

captkrahs@reddit

I don’t give a shit how long it takes

[-]

Foullacy@reddit

I’m not going to ruin anyone’s math-bashing parade but Math comes from Ancient Greek and means knowledge/learning.

You might not need slope-intercept in your day to day, but being successful in Math is absolutely correlated to being a successful problem solver and thinker.

[-]

Workadis@reddit

Everything we do uses variables in some form; even if you don't always see it on the front end

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No-Combination2020@reddit

Try subnetting with a pen and paper.

[-]

AdvisedWang@reddit

Yes, doing incident postmortems has sometimes required algebra and stats to understand and describe impact from the limited data available.

[-]

Flabbergasted98@reddit

So I'm curious. What is the context behind your question?

[-]

Any-Fly5966@reddit

Is algebra some new software suite? Kind of sounds like something spongebob's mom would wear.

[-]

shouldvesleptin@reddit

Not in my career, but in school, like many greybeards, I made screensavers in LOGO / turtle graphics.

Ironically, I use it far more in my farming side hustle, calculating literal fields, irrigation volumes and pesticide rates.

[-]

fwambo42@reddit

I miss LOGO

[-]

AlonzoSchmegma@reddit

Never. I still believe it’s simply used as a method to keep “undesirables” out of the field. More oppressive bs by small minded dweebs.

[-]

python_man@reddit

I once showed the standard deviation of the close time for a ticket task my team would work.

I normalized the data to take out the outliers and showed how automation would save x amount of engineering hours per month. Got the project approved but no one understood the math. Lol

Know your audience.

[-]

keivmoc@reddit

Quite literally every hour of every day.

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dracotrapnet@reddit

All the time. A lot of excel and SQL is just basic algebra.

[-]

Turdulator@reddit

Excel formulas and powershell scripts for days, son! I be mathin the fuck outta em

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RidesInFowlWeather@reddit

Yes, and trig and calc also. I am a software dev, specializing in CAD working for an engineering heavy firm.\ Kinda neat to be able to say that I use trig daily one of the few people on the planet that can make that claim. Calculus usage is less frequent because we have real, licensed, engineers for that.

[-]

Lanko@reddit

The core of any programming language is algebra. If we've dipped our toes in any kind of automation whatsoever we've used algebra

If a = b then c.
If clock = 1am then run update

I actually avoided a career comp Sci entirely, for years because every recruiter I ever spoke to told me I had to be good at math to work in computers. I was terrible at math! The only math I was good at was algebra. When I figured out that computer math was actually just algebra I was laughing!

I'd be really concerned if I ever met a sysadmin who didn't use algebra.

[-]

Duncanbullet@reddit

I use statistics more than anything, mainly for utilization trends and forecasting. And since stats is just algebra with many many extra steps, I'd say I use algebra quite often!

[-]

RichardJimmy48@reddit

You use algebra all the time both in daily life and at work, often without realizing it. Algebra comes up directly all the time, but even math fields that aren't immediately directly 'applicable' are still good things to learn. Calculus, prob & stat, linear algebra, abstract algebra, discrete math, etc. all come up in various specific areas of computers from time to time, but they also flex your mental muscles.

People spend way too much time focusing on 'when am I gonna use math' and miss the bigger picture. Math teaches quantitative skills, problem solving, logic, reasoning, etc. all of which are core skills required for technical jobs. I've never heard a football player ask "When am I going to use these deadlifts in football?". When are they going to do the motions of a deadlift in a football game? Never. Should they just not bother? No, they should still do it because the muscles worked by the deadlift are the same ones they're using when they're playing football.

[-]

gadget850@reddit

You mean the concepts of critical thinking, logical reasoning, problem-solving skills, analytical abilities, and the capacity to understand and represent complex relationships through abstract thinking?

[-]

Dwonathon@reddit

I have three laptops, and 4 people need new laptops. Is that enough? How many am I missing?

[-]

Past-File3933@reddit

I do quite regularly. I make in house software and it requires the use of algebra. I am updating our warehouse store and I have a reports page that requires the use of some simple algebraic expressions in my code. Nothing complex, all done with PHP and SQL. There is a very basic analytics page that shows a graph over time for item usage per section. I am working on making it somewhat predictive, but I need more data.

[-]

pdp10@reddit

If the total budget is 100k, and arrays cost twice as much as servers, and you need three arrays and ten servers, then what's the maximum price you can pay for a server?

[-]

Rich-Parfait-6439@reddit

LMAO I love this question. My math teacher always said you'll use algebra every day of your life. I do IT in a Bank and maybe used it once in 20 years :)

[-]

Megatronpt@reddit

Yes.. frequently.
Design, architecting, load capacity, network segmentation, etc.

[-]

dude_named_will@reddit

I suppose so, but I still had a computer do the calculation in a script or program.

[-]

esmifra@reddit

In IT? Constantly. In checking specs, data sheets and other technical documentation? Constantly. In passing KPIs to the upper management? Constantly. In managing KPIs so they keep below the threshold? Constantly.

In other no business related day to day life? Constantly.

[-]

Madmasshole@reddit

No but I had to use teachers pay teachers today to get some reference materials. I feel bad now about how hard I pushed to get it blocked.

[-]

breaking3po@reddit

You use algebra in the drive through

[-]

XCOMGrumble27@reddit

What do you think script variables are?

[-]

BloodFeastMan@reddit

Every.single.day

[-]

Aggressive_Ad_5454@reddit

Absolutely yes. Actually, descriptive and predictive statistics. How bad, exactly, is that CPU-utilization spike compared to history? Stdev and mean absolute deviation help a lot .

[-]

Kardinal@reddit

One of the things I've come to realize about education is that it's not only about the specific thing that's being taught, but how that learning teaches you a skill. For example, in literature class, it's not so important that you have read a specific work, but that you have learned how to analyze a work of literature and learn from it. In mathematics, you are not simply learning the specific ability to do the mathematical operation that is being taught, but you are learning how to think mathematically, which applies to anything that involves numbers.

[-]

pman1891@reddit

I use the Pythagorean theorem to calculate the width and height of displays. If you have a 27 inch computer display that’s 16:9 then it’s:

a^2 + b^2 = c^2 a = 16x b = 9x c = 27

First solve for x, then multiply x by 16 and 9 to get a and b (width and height) respectively.

[-]

lordcochise@reddit

Algebra pretty often, trig occasionally and calculus almost never.

[-]

Bedlemkrd@reddit

I do but it's only equivalency equation.

So if x/100 = 240/820 what is X to see what is going on.

820x = 24000

X = 24000/820

X= 29.27. Cool so it's just over a quarter....

No telling how many times I have to use this for things.

[-]

Zealousideal_Yard651@reddit

To do math? No.

To solve complex issues and create scripts sifting through datasets comprising a new dataset and making a server do stuff with that data. Daily. Math in school isn't about math. It's about problem solving and logical thinking. Once you start looking past the: "10x + 5 = 45, what is x?" issues, and start thinking of how you solve your way to the solution, you start seeing why there's such a big emphasis on math in education and tech.

Also, coding/scripting is basically math. But you are typing out your thoght process to achive the result. So when you solve a complex algebra question, the logic you use in your brain to come the solution for X, is what you do when you write code. Here's were alot of people struggle to get into coding from experience teaching. They assume that a computer does things, since in their head they jump to conclusions based on previous knowledge without think of every step they took on the way. A computer needs to be told every step. Meanwhile a brain can see "10x + 5 = 45" and jump straight to x = 4 without really thinking of each step they did to get to that solution. Hence why you can get a good grade on a match test without getting a single question right, as long as you use the right method.

[-]

gonewild9676@reddit

Yeah. A lot of machine learning centers around linear algebra. Getting a pile of data and running cluster analysis on it has made me a hero.

[-]

Ice_Leprachaun@reddit

Everyday I use algebra somehow. The calculus I took on the other hand… let’s just say “you use it or lose it”. Only using logic remains….

[-]

AmericanSkyyah@reddit

Subnetting and some ps variables here and there.

[-]

pceimpulsive@reddit

Directly? No..

Indirectly?

Hell yes all the fucking time.

Everytime I'm writing some code I'm using abstract values that I don't really know to make things happen. Combining known and unknown value together to derive some result that allows me to do a thing.

That or I don't know wtf algebra is.. Afterall I failed basically all my subject at school so I'm effectively an uneducated swine. Hue hue hue.

[-]

TheGreatAutismo__@reddit

I use algebra in a variable way all the time, when you look at it as “X is a variable holding a value” it makes a ton of sense to me and I use it as a result when describing a formula where of course the values are unknown at the time.

It might be an autism thing, but I struggled with Algebra in school until I happened to be playing with Python and was chaining variables together then it was like a slap in the face for how obvious it was.

[-]

Ok-Click-80085@reddit

In software development all the time...

[-]

5amMane@reddit

You guys work? /s

[-]

evasive_btch@reddit

What do you think assigning variables is? If you've ever scripted or programmed, you've made plenty use of algebra.

[-]

RPBranson@reddit

It so forced on us in high school and then for some reason mid semester in the 10th they dropped it from curriculum.

[-]

RPBranson@reddit

Never!

[-]

Alekazammers@reddit

Maybe some pre-algebra but never the full on high level stuff. Honestly though most of the stuff I do is basic level IT so maybe I'm not the guy to ask lol

[-]

ItsmeFawaz@reddit

I do not have a career in IT yet but I've worked in a lot of small project for commissions. Mainly on the game Minecraft and ended up using a lot of mathematical concepts including algebra, trigonometry, geometry etc. It came a lot easier to me since I understood the basic concepts of these maths and it is a fun experience.

One time I had to use maths relating to circles which I hadn't studied yet and ended up copying code from stackoverflow. I came to understand the code I copied later on when I studied the circles in school. Fun stuff.

Hope to have a proper career in IT one day 😁

[-]

Prestigious_Wall529@reddit

Actually used fast fourier transforms.

Admittedly this was in a science lab placement.

[-]

BronnOP@reddit

Every single day. Whether it’s level 1 tech support, “proper” sysadmin tasks, programming, excel etc.

[-]

enforce1@reddit

I use a bunch of math in my data analysis every day

[-]

Asleep_Spray274@reddit

I have $10,000, how many severs can i buy

[-]

Darth_Malgus_1701@reddit (OP)

Well, that depends on how much severing all those heads costs.

[-]

Asleep_Spray274@reddit

Haha, severing sounds like a more fun way to spend $10,000 than on servers

[-]

pooogles@reddit

DevOps

Yes. In lots of things, forecasting and binpacking algos spring to mind recently.

[-]

Kafkarudo@reddit

Maybe that you’re referring to Linear Algebra perhaps?

[-]

Darth_Malgus_1701@reddit (OP)

Yes. At least that's what I had in my head when I asked.

[-]

sparkyblaster@reddit

All the time. You probably don't realise it.

Algebra is great, there are definitely some weird ones though.

[-]

TheFumingatzor@reddit

Yes

[-]

wonderwall879@reddit

Let me introduce you to logical statements "if, and, or" as well as variables. Many of algebraic sentences can be translated 1:1 to coding. Even if you don't do coding, scripting is also the same thing, including a lot of built in windows functions and settings are "if,and,or".

[-]

SoylentVerdigris@reddit

I can't think of anything more complicated than modulus division. Which I made Powershell do, obviously.

[-]

boli99@reddit

are you going to follow this up with something like 'i wish they taught us how to do taxes instead of just this multiplication and division nonsense' ?

[-]

Darth_Malgus_1701@reddit (OP)

No. I pay someone else to do my taxes.

[-]

jaredearle@reddit

Yes, of course. It’s used in everyday life and using it in IT is no different.

[-]

Korlus@reddit

Have you ever used Excel, a coding or a scripting language, or performed a non-trivial SQL lookup?

If so, you have used algebra.

[-]

SysMadMin324@reddit

y=mx+b

Hm, maybe when scripting in Powershell or Python a lil.

[-]

kylegordon@reddit

I work in IT Infra, but I used Pythagoras to make sure the foundation slab I was getting poured was square, and the car ramp I was building was square.... does that count?

[-]

Aggravating_Refuse89@reddit

No wonder I hate coding. I detest math and was always exceptionally bad at it. Now I am convinced I cannot get good at it because you are saying it is in fact math

[-]

6rey_sky@reddit

Never, even less than that after receiving gpt access. Buzzwords > science. I am unemployed rn, so take it with a grain of salt.

[-]

vaminion@reddit

Like the quadratic equation? No. But being able to break things down into formulas comes up all the time when I'm writing scripts.

[-]

chickey23@reddit

I've used the quadratic equation to tell someone she either printed 102 letters or -4 letters based on the information she gave me. She did not get the joke.

[-]

ConstanceJill@reddit

Sounds like something we'd like to hear about at /r/talesfromtechsupport

[-]

patmorgan235@reddit

Yeah, the logical problem solving (I have A and B, what do I need to get C) is a huge part of why we teach algebra to everyone.

Plus there are lots of fundamental truths about the world it's hard to grasp if you aren't at least vaguely familiar with concepts in algebra or geometry

[-]

project2501c@reddit

Hell, ask the High Performance Computing group at NJIT about that.

[-]

alainchiasson@reddit

Every day, multiple times. And not just IT. I use algebra grocery shopping ( price comparison), figuring out how many gallons of paint I need for a room, comparing mortgage options and integrating it into my home budget. Sometimes it doesn’t look like algebra - i’m not writing out full equations- but it is algebra.

[-]

nhanledev@reddit

yes, for game developement to calculate everything in combat, for web developement I use it to calculate the fee that I have to pay to whatever vendors they were

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SOLIDninja@reddit

All the time but not really how they teach it in school.

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fresh-dork@reddit

queueing theory is the shit

want to see what the latency and throughput would be for that new server and a given workload? model it out. come up with scenarios and see where the best bang for your buck is

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nirach@reddit

For the life of me, reading this title I couldn't tell you what algebra is.

Reading the comments, apparently I do use it fairly regularly.

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nightwatch_admin@reddit

In the aulden dayes, when disks ran in 100s of megabytes at most you had to calculate partition size depending on platters, heads, cylinders, blocks… to minimise storage loss and maximise performance.

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kingkongqueror@reddit

Never ever between careers from Windows Infrastructure and now AWS Cloud. I do use it extensively as a dad though.

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adfx@reddit

I have used algebra in my work life but not abstract algebra

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XanII@reddit

You dont need to go deep into scripting to need it. The best code is such that it's just a line or two, looks incomprehensible until you look at it through a math lens. Like 3! which is 3 x 2 x 1 = 6 . Useful sometimes in programming.

But generally though when i was young getting my bachelors i cursed at the sheer amount of maths CS students have to go through. Until it dawned to me: This is one of the few ways to learn this elusive thing called logic. To learn to divide problems into smaller parts, eliminate parts and solve to find x. x is usually is profit or some other advantage the company seeks.

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kuahara@reddit

Math is supposed to shape the way you think. People who hate it are usually not the best at troubleshooting and isolation, finding solutions to complex problems, or contributing to the organization in any meaningful way.

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Cheomesh@reddit

Yeah, for a cost curve between three different printers once. Even made a graph.

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rose_gold_glitter@reddit

All the time.

I do a lot of development work, data analytics and the ability to do real maths is so valuable - it means I have a whole set of tools to solve problems and can think about them in ways other people around me cannot.

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Dolapevich@reddit

It is something so ingrained in everyday use, you don't realize you are using it.

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kuahara@reddit

Cheat an hourly worker out of 3 hours of their wages and watch how fast they solve for x.

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zoharel@reddit

Probably a few times. I have even used graph theory a couple times.

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fost1692@reddit

Any time you work out an amount of sales tax/ VAT you are using algebra.

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torftorf@reddit

As a Software developer a lot. I literally uses trigonometry yesterday

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tallcatgirl@reddit

As a sysadmin no, as a developer doing many control algorithms oh sh.. it's worse than in school :D

[-]

ludlology@reddit

Yep. eventually IT becomes a lot of analysis and statistics and reporting if you aren’t a server monkey for your whole career

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Darth_Malgus_1701@reddit (OP)

Not a high schooler and I don't think it's a silly question at all.

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Twikkilol@reddit

Never used any "math" really in my IT career

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rickAUS@reddit

All the time, same with trig actually.

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RiveredSet@reddit

in what context do you use trig?

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rickAUS@reddit

Cabling, install/maintenance of point-to-point wireless hardware, some security hardware support. a bit niche but it's in the lineup of stuff I touch.

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Darth_Malgus_1701@reddit (OP)

Can you give an example of how you would use trig in that context?

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ResponsibilityLast38@reddit

Not the person you are responding to, but a real life trig proplem Ive had to solve IRL is this:

I have a point on top of a building at h1 feet above sea level. 3 miles w/nw away I have a dish on a hilltop that is h2 feet above sea level. The dishes need to be aligned within 4.5 degrees to start the automated fine tuning. What angle and orientation do my dishes need to be set to in order to get the dishes aligned enough to initiate fine tuning?

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BoltActionRifleman@reddit

We do this with point to point dishes and just aim in the general direction, even fine tune from there. Our furthest link is currently just over 14 miles. It’d be neat to be able to calculate that stuff but so far we’ve gotten by with eyeballing it.

[-]

Chellhound@reddit

*flashes back to trying to walk a godsdamnned radio operator in a FOB 10 miles away through the process of adjusting a microwave antenna to restore network connectivity back to the main base.*

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ResponsibilityLast38@reddit

My specific example was a few years back when we had to line out an emergency link from one of our cabinets to another after our fiber link downed from a bridge that washed out in a flood. There was not much visibility in that storm, and not much desire to struggle it out in the rain either. Did the math, marked the brackets, bolted up the dishes and then turned up the link. A little nudge nudge on one side and it was good to go (or good enough, we went back out and fine tuned again after the storm)

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altodor@reddit

I have to do that math once to say "hey, your radio would need to be triple the height of the Burj Kalifa to have line of sight, I think we need a different solution"

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RiveredSet@reddit

feels like geometry more than trig, which would make more sense

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rickAUS@reddit

Overlapping Venn diagram i suppose.

Still two branches of math I didn't think would be overly useful in IT but has come up much more often than I would've expected.

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DisastrousLobster998@reddit

Math in general teaches you problem solving skills.

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mrjgraham@reddit

Yep, helping a user with Excel.

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davidflorey@reddit

Coding and scription, yes, variables are algebra

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oofdahallday@reddit

If you question mathematics in IT you sleep through algebra.

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rankinrez@reddit

Basically?

I mean we use it in code all the time effectively.

I don’t be doing theorems and proofs in the abstract mind you. But yeah we plug mathematical formulas into things all over.

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BlueVerdigris@reddit

Devops, here.

Tons of word problems in daily job. Most of which involve answering questions where at least a couple of inputs are unknowns. Sometimes we go find raw data to tell us what those unknowns are, sometimes we have to infer what those unknowns are based on what other related stuff we can see. Sometimes we can't actually know that input, but have to provide an order-of-magnitude estimate about what happens if it is X vs 10X vs 1000X over some period of time.

Network health, expected file transfer times for processes that output large binaries that are needed at multiple remote testing sites, time until a SAN pool is full (if historical growth continues AND sometimes in response to a new project with estimated usage, backup cadence, and purging of time-limited data on some new schedule is being proposed). Cost of upgrades for fleets of switches where you have 2-3 model types in play, apportionment of a shared enterprise license based on how many engineers from each team use the service or system.

Subnet calculations. Binary arithmetic and various conversions between binary, octal, decimal and hexadecimal.

"How many racks of model NN can we fit in the new datacenter?" Hello, square footage calcs. where the resulting total in any given section of the datacenter has to be less than some percentage of the total floor area of that section's "shape."

"Can the HVAC system proposed by Facilities actually cool our projected heat load in the new datacenter?" Well, first you have to calculate the projected heat load based on the power consumption of the servers you plan to stuff in the racks, which...yeah...that's algebra.

Our I.T. group, thankfully, gets all the "How many wifi access points do we have to buy for the new site if we fill every cubicle with an employee?" questions. I might just outsource that one to a vendor like they did, yeah.

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michaelpaoli@reddit

Absolutely! And typically semi-regularly. Probably not every day, but probably (almost?) every week, and certainly multiple times per month. Heck, probably also use it a lot with the electrical/electronics and related - without even hardly thinking about it as being "Algebra" (even when it definitely is), but yes, quite commonly and routinely.

Ah, ... couple examples that pop to mind - relatively typical, but these just happened to be a bit more memorable:

Did a workbook/spreadsheet, to make something much easier for folks ... notably because they tended to not estimate it well, and often come up quite "wrong". Notably it was for converting between actual typical useful available filesystem capacity, vs. raw disk size. Put in either end of that, and the other relevant bits, e.g. filesystem type (or raw device/block storage for some applications, e.g. some databases), type of RAID, number of drives, hot spares, etc., and it would convert between the two, taking into account SI vs. binary units (e.g. GB vs. GiB), filesystem overhead and reserved space, etc. Basically I worked out all the relevant formulas, and then implemented i as a workbook, where folks could put in the relevant numbers and such, and it would do the rest.

Another example - bra size calculator ... put in the relevant measurements - relatively free-form (fair bit of programming too), in English or metric units, select relevant country - so it would use the appropriate sizing system ... and it would give the bra size information. Again, I worked out the relevant formulas to do it, then implemented it as program to do the needed conversions/calculations on the input data and give the relevant result. Yeah, even did a demonstration in front of the entire company (fairly small company) ... coconut shells and some string came in very handy for that - that and a loose fitting company jacket that I could kind'a slump forward into to hide in advance how I was gonna manage to pull off that demo.

Most recent I can think of within the last work-week or so involved a fair number of estimated time of completion for various running processes. May have been many more, but that one quickly pops to mind.

And sometimes even calculus ... though relatively rarely.

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clericc--@reddit

I use set theory (union, intersect, set-difference) all the time. Not algebra, granted.

but once i needed discrete differentiation

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shikkonin@reddit

All the time. Literally, multiple times a day for basically every aspect of the job.

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Candid_Ad5642@reddit

Oh yeah

Ever done any kind of programming? Played with variables and functions? Same sht, different application

Not to mention trigonometry with sin and cos and friends for some visualizations

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Extreme_Muscle_7024@reddit

Yes. Used it today to calculate / forecast how much over budget I’m going to be with Azure. As in my project is 15% complete from a log volumes perspective and it’s costing me $20k a month.

So to forecast my future cost if I went to 100%. I need to solve for “F” being “Fuck I’m over budget”.

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Delicious-Wasabi-605@reddit

As a sysadimn? Not really. When I was a developer many times. Hell I even got into a very multi variable functions and vectors.

And I still often times use the calculator to make sure I added two numbers correctly. 57+43? Shit, I better double check it's a 100.

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ultramegamediocre@reddit

Often. Not difficult stuff, but any time you're assigning a variable or doing a calculation it's very similar.

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NightGod@reddit

Nearly daily...how do you NOT?

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Darth_Malgus_1701@reddit (OP)

What contexts do you use it in?

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Huge_Ad_2133@reddit

2 to the n power - 2 is pretty essential as a system admin.

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KC1MML@reddit

Yes..

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Casty_McBoozer@reddit

Not very often. I used to do land based radio installations for internet access at homes and businesses. Some of the radios needed to be a good bit above the roof line for line of sight. We would mount a 3 legged tripod and a telescoping pole, and then use guy wires to secure it to different roof points. I've used the Pythagorean theorm to roughly estimate how much guy wire to cut.

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tupperswears@reddit

N-1 is a pretty common way of expressing that a patch level will only ever be 1 behind the latest release. N being the latest patch.

N+1 (or +3, +4 etc.) is a common way of expressing redundancy. N being the minimum amount of hosts/servers/appliances that are required for a service to run.

Really basic examples, but they are both technically algebraic.

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kloeckwerx@reddit

No, but I use geometry to build confidence decay algorithms using slope intersect forms. y=mx+b for the win. 🤣

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Bebilith@reddit

Extensively while sizing Citrix workload environments and raid arrays, among other things.

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ScuzzyUltrawide@reddit

Proportions are everywhere

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Balasarius@reddit

I'm still and will forever be pissed about having to take four semesters of calculus as a computer "science" major. Incredible levels of bullshit.

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Biyeuy@reddit

abstract/modern algebra - cryptography.

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Zerafiall@reddit

I looked up standard deviation once for setting up alerting once... don't remember any of that now. But it's working.

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HerissonMignion@reddit

Programming == algebra. If you dont believe it then lookup what do people whose native language is distant from english say about what writing english keywords feels like.

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alainchiasson@reddit

All the time.

when my brain drifts - « how fast would i need tho go to jump the gap » I take it the step further and do the math.

Or we just had 2 back to back snowstorms- people are complaining about how slow the clean up is. I calculate the volume of snow and convert it to 40 yard trucks.

I find it fun

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spermcell@reddit

Yes you need math

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dukandricka@reddit

Yes, many times. I usually run any algorithm-like code by actual software programmers/engineers though, as it's something they do more regularly and they're much more likely to find faults in my approach than I am.

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Anonymo123@reddit

Almost 30 years IT, multiple degrees...no algebra thankfully outside of school requirements lol

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Sea-Nothing-5773@reddit

I wrote a progress bar into a UI in Power Apps, and the X position of the dial was determined by y=mx+b. The ex math teacher in me enjoyed that immensely.

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No_Hetero@reddit

Analyst, and yes all the time. Half of what you do with excel and python and SQL for ETL workloads is stuff you learn how to do in algebra.

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New-Ebb61@reddit

Of course. We use it without even thinking about it.

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lukewhale@reddit

Algebra ? Yeah all the time.

If you ever used AI you’re using linear algebra like a boss if you know it or not.

But calculus ? Unless you’re an embedded avionics engineer the likelihood is low.

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hodl42weeks@reddit

I think queue theory is a good topic to understand. If you can service 40 requests per second, the difference between an average load of 38 TPS and 42 TPS can be eye opening.

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Own_Woodpecker1103@reddit

Wifi scoping once fairly manually

Never again

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random_troublemaker@reddit

I calculated roughly how much force went into throwing a chromebook at a wall the other day.

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Darth_Malgus_1701@reddit (OP)

Nice.

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random_troublemaker@reddit

I feel proud of accomplishing the math when I was chilling in the bar. https://www.reddit.com/r/iiiiiiitttttttttttt/comments/1j469km/comment/mgg6fxn/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

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fubes2000@reddit

I was building a control panel to let employees make DNS changes against our 3rd party DNS host, but there was a rate limit of N requests in a sliding window of M seconds. Each response contained the number of remaining requests for that window.

The naive solution would be to wait M/N seconds between requests, but that would needlessly delay requests when the app was not busy. So I defined a logarithmic function such that the area under the line would be equal to M and "solved" the integral.

I say "solved" because I included two parameters to tune the curve and only one is actually solvable. I've bounced it off of a couple people with actual math degrees and they can't solve it for the second parameter either. :/

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ReptilianLaserbeam@reddit

Have you tried with cubic splines?

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mistertinker@reddit

I installed some cameras that required a 25 degree angle on both the vertical and horizontal axis, so good ol Pythagoras to determine the height

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badhabitfml@reddit

Algebra?

All programming is basically algebra. Variables, etc.

Calc? No. Diff eq? No. Trig Or geometry? Maybe.

Algebra is probably the most important math class you need in the world of IT. Variables and the logic of solving a problem is algebra and very very important in the IT world.

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Frequent_Fold_7871@reddit

I wrote a HEX code to HSL conversion script in PHP, turned out to be super interesting and made a lot of algebra click when realizing functions in math work kinda the same as in software, you just run different portions of the formula based on the current state of the value. Made me dive more into math, and by the end of the day, I lost interest and went back to never using it again.

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thatbrazilianguy@reddit

Not only on IT, but in life in general. The rule of thirds is arguably the most useful principle of algebra.

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slimisjim@reddit

Guess I’m googling “rule of thirds” tonight

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popegonzo@reddit

Psh, so celebrities die in threes, what does that have to do with algebra? /s

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thatbrazilianguy@reddit

Copied from Gemini as I was too lazy to come up with an original example:

Problem: If 5 apples cost $2, how much will 10 apples cost?

Set up the proportion:

5 apples / $2 = 10 apples / x

Cross-multiply: 5x = 20

Solve for x: x = 4

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yankdevil@reddit

All the time. What an odd question.

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LastTechStanding@reddit

For programming sure. Write once use often lol

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Silence_1999@reddit

Sure. Not all that much though. Mostly helping users with reports. Servers don’t like algebra. Firewalls don’t care. Switches just ignore it all and shovel it along to the next destination port.

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homelaberator@reddit

Of course. More generally, those skills you learn in mathematics to solve problems with numbers and to express problems in numbers is the entire basis of computing.

Algebra, more specifically, is about abstracting the forms outside of specific instances so that you can generalise. This means instead of having to solve each and every problem one by one, you can work out the rule (the algorithm) for solving a kind of problem and substitute in the specific data. Automation, scripting, templates, checklists, programming - all sorts of everyday activities you do in sysadmin are essentially doing algebra.

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MountainDadwBeard@reddit

As a devops person they def do for coding.

As a sysadmin, at a basic level i think you would for at a basic level to figure out how many switches you need to cover f(switches) = endpoints, connections*expansion ratio).

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etzel1200@reddit

I use linear algebra, but only indirectly.

Kind of funny that school was right in how important that was. Underestimating it even.

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Voy74656@reddit

Yep, did it on the help desk when I was shadowing a senior employee. Something was displaying the temperature in C and the lead had no idea what that was in freedom units. I knew the C=9/5F+32 so I did a bit of rounding because 9/5 is almost 2, so double the freedom units and tack on 32 and you're very close to C. Dude was amazed that I could pump that out with half a second of thought.

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NationalYesterday@reddit

I used the Pythagorean theorem one time to figure out the measurements for something when quoting a project lol

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retrofitme@reddit

Using algebra directly? No, not really. Using the logic structures and thought processes to get to solutions given only parts of the problem? All the time.

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AvonMustang@reddit

This is the best answer and applies to lots of jobs.

Learning algebra and geometry teaches you to think logically through a problem which is a great skill for any job...

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Frogtarius@reddit

Only applies to data science and matrices.

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KRed75@reddit

Yes. Very often.

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uptimefordays@reddit

Yes, the whole job is basically word problems, where you solve for at least one variable. If you start writing more complex scripts, you’ll find yourself dealing with matrices, multivariate functions, and more!

If you want to avoid math, computing is among the worst career choices.

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Geminii27@reddit

Sure. Admittedly, not particularly deep algebra, but certainly linear equations, and simultaneous equations. If I'd done programming, and wanted to get deep into orders of growth in algorithms for best efficiency, that might involve working with some more complex math.

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Butterscotch_Nerd@reddit

Powershell scripting feels like it would have been harder without a decent grasp of algebraic concepts.

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SoSmartish@reddit

I open up the calculator app like 3 times a week. That's about it.

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GeekShallInherit@reddit

A fair amount of algebra, statistics occasionally, and I'm sure basic geometry/trig on occasion. I'm sure I could have even made use of calc at times, if I wasn't too lazy to remember how the hell it works.

To be fair, little of it was probably absolutely necessary for my job, and much of it could be done easily enough with online calculators and whatnot (which I also use from time to time). A bit of data analysis here, subnetting, optimizing something or other, whatever.

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solidfreshdope@reddit

Hell, I’ve even used geometry. 📐

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three-one-seven@reddit

Every day if you count algebraic concepts and things like variables.

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cbtboss@reddit

If you bring in nested for loops with variables in scripting, you are basically doing calculus integrals. But yeah algebra is fairly common as others have pointed out with numerous examples.

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Weekly_Broccoli1161@reddit

No.

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GreyXor@reddit

sure, modulo is very handy

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OIIOIIOIIOIIOIOIOIII@reddit

I had to bust out the % operator in a SQL query last week. It had been a while since I had to use it.

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ianmichaelmcnulty@reddit

Hell yes, at least in networking. 2ⁿ. Also, 2^h-2.

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udsd007@reddit

Yes, but then my degree is in math and CS.

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chickentenders54@reddit

I use the logic of algebra often while troubleshooting problems.

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guizemen@reddit

Yes.

I've used it in countless Excel sheets I've used it to calculate server closet cooling I've used it to figure out purchasing contracts I've used it to determine licensing costs I've used it to in figuring out how much network we'll need for new locations I've used it to find out how many people we can fit in certain spaces

Maybe as an ex-IT Contractor I'm cheating, but I've seriously used Algebra (and geometry) a ton in my career.

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ASlutdragon@reddit

Does subnetting count? Or is that not algebra

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FLATLANDRIDER@reddit

I used algebra and trigonometry to win an argument and prove that my superior was wrong about the reason why one of our systems wasn't working.

We have plants in relatively close proximity and we use ubiquity airfibers to beam in internet from one plant to another. It's about 1km. One of these went down unexpectedly so we ended up loaning a spare from a local company that had a spare on hand to cover us until a new one could arrive from ubiquity (2 week lead). We installed the spare and tried to get the link back up but the 2 airfibers refused to synchronize. We were always told that alignment on these was super finnicky so we spent a day trying to get them properly aligned, but nothing worked.

After doing some research I found that some versions of the aifiber (even though it's the same model) will not be compatible and will never sync. I brought this up and suggested we try to expedite a new one instead of wasting our time but my superior insisted we didn't know what we were doing and that they were misaligned. He even came onsite and tried to do it himself with a hunting rifle scope even though I insisted it was aligned.

I ended up getting the documentation, finding the beam width of the airfibers, and using trigonometry to calculate that the beam at the other end would be over 30ft wide and there was no way we were over 30ft off in alignment.

We ended up getting a cheap system from Amazon to get basic functionality working until the new replacement airfiber arrived. Once it did we had the entire system back up and running in 1 hour because alignment was super quick and straightforward.

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TKInstinct@reddit

You use Algebra everywhere all the time so yes. Perhaps not physically sitting down and doing a formula on paper though.

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WantDebianThanks@reddit

I used geometry once to figure out how long of a cable run to make.

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sdeptnoob1@reddit

Yes in programing stuff. I like to automate shot when I can.

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RyanStNope@reddit

Bash, PowerShell, Excel, Python: "Allow us to introduce ourselves"

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Classic_Acanthaceae2@reddit

Every day! Even to check your payroll. Unless you don’t charge and do non profit

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i_am_voldemort@reddit

All the time. Calculus. Stats.

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cpz_77@reddit

I think it’s more the problem solving skills than raw math most of the time.

Not to say knowing it doesn’t help though. For example knowing binary and hexadecimal math really helps with understanding why certain things are the way they are in the computing world. For me, once I learned those number systems, a lot of stuff that I had seen and worked with prior but didn’t necessarily understand the “whys” behind it suddenly made a whole lot more sense. Whereas those that don’t know just assume it’s that way randomly or because it’s always been that way or because some crazy programmer in the past decided to put letters in his numbers.

Looking back, even though it may seem useless to some at the time I’m glad they made us learn that in school, I’d say it’s certainly benefitted me in my career.

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kirksan@reddit

Constantly. All types of capacity planning. Lot's of stastical analysis in security, testing, and more. Always in finance and budgeting. I literally could not get through a day without strong algebra. Knowing more than algebra will help with lots of programming too.

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donair2099@reddit

So... a while back the company I was at bought some secure cabinets to hold spare server parts. a co worker asked if I had any fancy code to help determine the best way to maximize parts in the cabinet. I used excel to create a mockup of the volume of each shelf along with the volume of the different boxes that might be stored. using that we were able to figure out the max number of parts that could fit on each shelf. It was super handy. :)

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KarmicDeficit@reddit

This isn’t algebra, but I wrote a log function for alerting on available disk space, such that as the size of the disk grows, the free space alert threshold also grows, but at a slower rate (on a curve) before eventually leveling off.

[-]

mustang__1@reddit

I died and grew the day I realized plotting a price change on a regression was going to be the best way to handle my goal of scaling discounted customers up towards the regular price without leap frogging or whatever.

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g13005@reddit

For those that write scripts in powershell, yes.

$result = ($x + $y) * $z
$result = ($x + $y) * $z

Write-Host "The result of ($x + $y) * $z is: $result"
Write-Host "The result of ($x + $y) * $z is: $result"

[-]

longboarder543@reddit

All the time! I like to convert IP / subnets into CIDR using this simple equation:

Let the IP address be (a, b, c, d) and its subnet mask be (A, B, C, D).
Convert the subnet mask into its 32-bit integer value: M = A · 256³ + B · 256² + C · 256 + D
Compute the CIDR prefix length (n) using: n = log₂(2³² / (2³² − M)) (This works because a valid subnet mask has M = 2³² − 2^(32−n).)
Express the CIDR notation as: (a, b, c, d) / n

Following these steps, you can convert any valid IP address and subnet mask into CIDR notation.

[-]

JustinHoMi@reddit

Algebra? That’s basic math. I use it all the time in my IT career and other aspects of life.

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moistpimplee@reddit

what's that

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StantonShowroom@reddit

We hire engineers right out college for that.

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UnexpectedAnomaly@reddit

I've used more algebra playing D&D than math in general during my IT career.

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updatelee@reddit

Algebra is a life skill. Like many life skills you can get through life without it. But if you ever wonder why your life is so darn hard … maybe it’s the fact you glossed over some of those life skills

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systemic-void@reddit

Maybe cabling estimates? I’ve never used it. However I have always found more important than studying algebra was the way you start to think. Logical complex reasoning and deduction is a skill and used all the time in IT from fault finding to enterprise project planning.

Try to think less about the application of algebra in IT and more how you approach problems in IT. Study of algebra helps us train the brain to break complex tasks down to simple ones.

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Stryker1-1@reddit

I ran cabling for several years never once used it.

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DeepRoot@reddit

Just to calculate the cause of "x"

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cyberentomology@reddit

Damn near daily.

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cantstandmyownfeed@reddit

Nope. Barely passed it 20 some odd years ago, haven't seen it since.

I'm terrible with math, but it hasn't been a hindrance. Can get by just fine with the basics, plus some understanding of statistics and data interpretation/extrapolation.

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Worldly_Weather5484@reddit

Says nope, then uses examples that are very much algebra lol

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captkrahs@reddit

The most math I’ve ever done is calculating sums

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wivaca@reddit

I can't remember a date I didn't. Algebra is so simple you use it without knowing. Trig, no. Geometry, not that I can remember. Algebra, every frigging day.

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Browntrouser@reddit

I've never used anything but basic math in my IT career.

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first_lvr@reddit

Yes, whenever I have to think about algorithmic problems is always a formula behind to solve it

Am a software developer after all

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oldspiceland@reddit

Yes. I’ve used almost all of my Liberal Arts degree, but what I haven’t used any of is any of my Computer Science electives.

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ka-splam@reddit

used regex? They describe finite state machines / deterministic finite state automata.

typed ip or ip addr help on a Linux machine and seen the weird description of the available commands? That's more or less an EBNF context-free grammar dump.

Used [Rapid] Spanning-Tree Protocol (RSTP) on switches? That's finding the minimum spanning tree of a graph which is all the network links between all the connected switches, to trace and avoid loops.

SQL queries? Codd's relational algebra.

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oldspiceland@reddit

I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but no I don’t regularly use regex. I just do research and find others who have.

Active use of an IP address schema doesn’t recuire understanding of the underlying principles involved, but none of my CS courses covered that, though I wish I’d taken those instead.

My understanding of spanning tree came with insight from logic and philosophy classes.

My use of SQL is almost entirely my math classes or again the research courses I took.

Understanding how someone else built something is what the CS classes offered. Not knowing how to use them effectively, nor knowing when to use them effectively.

I don’t need to understand how spanning tree works to configure it. I do need to understand how to write a flow chart though, which I learned in a philosophy class. That’s what I mean by saying I don’t use my CS electives, because knowing how a combustion engine, hydraulic automatic transmission, and a geared differential works and how to design and build them aren’t a replacement for driving instruction and no amount of high marks for automotive engineering will prepare you for life as a delivery driver if you never learn how to drive.

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DaLurker87@reddit

I listened to an argument from someone years ago that said that we should change out algebra for statistics in high schools and I couldn't agree more

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Graham99t@reddit

The answer is x = no

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ewok66@reddit

Yes- and the periodic table too; I do IT for a Lab.

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dwight0@reddit

Devops / Architecture / Developer for 20 years.
Accounting is the only math I have ever needed. I suppose that is about algebra 1.

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Brutus_Khan@reddit

No. Not one single time.

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tomlinas@reddit

Algebra and calculus. Not much trig…I’m sure more physically oriented development efforts might, but not anything I’ve worked on.

Why?

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Darth_Malgus_1701@reddit (OP)

Just curious is all. How has calculus popped up in your career?

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tomlinas@reddit

Dang, Reddit ate my comment - hope this doesn’t double post.

Sizing for user load which is predictable in aggregate but varies greatly individually across peak and slow times to hit the right amount of hardware needed to achieve performance goals without overspending. User load tends to be normally distributed, so you can calc area at various percentiles to project the loads generated and size appropriately.

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ImightHaveMissed@reddit

What’s math?

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Practical-Alarm1763@reddit

Yes, I've used algebra ever since my first job at age 15 working at a pizza place. I've never worked anywhere I did not use algebra.

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1996Primera@reddit

algebra? no not really,

but currently was asked to debug/fix a script ....intial thought was like this will be easy , some PS commands, some graphapi calls...then I hit mathematical functions that are calculating dynamic markups/profit margins for licenses we sell....threw my hands up...& was like yeah hire a dev to do this, bc this aint me (im not a programmer, just an old sr Sys engineer who knows powershell really well...but i never mathed in my powershells)

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whatsforsupa@reddit

Our lead technician used the pythagorean theroem for ceiling tile to estimate how long of a cable we needed to run.

To this day, probably the most "wow, he is much smarter than me" moment I've ever had :D

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illicITparameters@reddit

Absolutely. Variables, man.

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North-Plantain1401@reddit

Windows server virtualization licensing.

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PoolMotosBowling@reddit

No, but I did to hang a TV perfectly between top and bottom cabinets. The mount holes were not perfectly in the center of the TV. My middle school daughter rolled her eyes when I was like, see, math is important.

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Dadarian@reddit

I don’t really think about the math that I do as any specific kind of math. But, I do use lots of formulas in excel, obviously lots of math in python and Powershell.

Asset depreciate and replacement. 100 laptops, 200 desktops, servers, storage centers all have a base cost, expected depreciation in value, how much money to put away into a fund each year to carry over and replace equipment from a single fund. I don’t want to plan how to replace every single thing at some perfect time to replace them. But instead have a fund to manage replacements so things only get replaced as needed while money is there when needed.

Lots of different formulas for budgets where the variables are as simple as license cost versus how many people to budget to have that license.

Math is just an everyday thing, while some days none at all. It’s just more of a natural thing that good math skills are valuable to have, and things would be harder not having.

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ProgressBartender@reddit

I take three transfer readings 10 minutes apart, how long will it take the robocopy to finish transferring 10TB of files?

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Twitfried@reddit

Last month the free disk space on the server was x. This month it’s y. Given that rate of change project when the server will run out of disk space.

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6Bee@reddit

You don't use loops? Most finite loops can be expressed w/ summation notation.

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Darth_Malgus_1701@reddit (OP)

I am not a coder. All the IT stuff I've done so far has revolved around hardware. I'm not opposed to coding, but it's definitely a major weakness of mine.

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6Bee@reddit

If you're working on hardware configurations, any repetitive part can be handled with a loop. It's a good place to start

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AgsAreUs@reddit

Pretty sure I've never used any math in my IT career.

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Darth_Malgus_1701@reddit (OP)

Not even for subnetting?

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phoenix823@reddit

Doing linear regression is pretty common so yes?

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jkalchik99@reddit

Actually used calculus a couple of years out of college, for a couple of mold design scripts/tools, using 1st derivatives. Managed to do it without even cracking the text.

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Spiggots@reddit

You can't do anything involving ML or data science without running smack dab into matrix operations and linear algebra.

But I guess the relevance of that depends on the scope and nature of your IT dept

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DayFinancial8206@reddit

If you do any amount of coding or scripting it holds value

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JimmySide1013@reddit

I don’t think of it that way but the principles of logic and problem solving apply. You really spend a lot of the day solving for X.

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Anonymous_Bozo@reddit

Probably every single day!

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ScotTheDuck@reddit

That’s okay, kid. I remember hating the matrix chapter in junior year algebra too

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Icolan@reddit

Every time you put formulas in an Excel workbook you are using algebra.

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deac714@reddit

I have used it during back of the napkin estimates of things like download times and for planning of workloads and such.

The math that gets used most in sysadmin stuff is the stuff that gets covered in discrete math. Binary math is very helpful when it comes to subnetting and POSIX permissions.

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reviewmynotes@reddit

Yes. It isn't necessarily obvious that it's algebra, though. Same with arithmetic (which is different.) For example, I have written code to create user accounts, which must make unique usernames. Those usernames are based on party on their names and an integer to make it unique. That function/subroutine will find the next available integer given their initials. So $initials_highestNumber=+1;. That's arithmetic.

If you need to figure out a number based on other details around it, you're using algebra. You might only be building the formula and letting the code figure it out, but the act of building the code is algebra. Unfortunately, I can't think of any simple examples right now.

On the other hand, I was never good enough at trigonometry to use it in code. I officially learned it in 10th grade, but didn't understand it until late in my 12th grade physics class, more than two years later. So I now understand its purpose, but not how to apply it. Calculus and matrices I have never used in I.T., since I don't need to write code that deals with the physical world or electrical fields.

Also, any time you're trying to figure out the best cost per unit (e.g. cost per GB of several different storage options), if something can physically fit, how much cable length you can still use given other factors, etc. you're probably using algebra.

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c_pardue@reddit

yeah but it's mostly stuff like "expected time to work ticket = (actual work + documentation) portal login issues" or "anger issues * unresolved technical problems - number of useful meetings this quarter = actual customer sentiment".

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Darth_Malgus_1701@reddit (OP)

That's more of the answer I was looking for. Thanks.

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SHITSTAINED_CUM_SOCK@reddit

I use a lot of trig and matrices but I'm not sure I'm a sysadmin in a regular sense (do I belong here?).

I do database development and create a lot of one-off software programs which interface with it for users.

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SaintEyegor@reddit

I have to bang numbers around now and then for capacity planning stuff but that’s about it.

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MattDaCatt@reddit

I mean, I guess?... At least a general idea of how things get set up

The whole reason I like computers is that they do the math for me though

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fxfire@reddit

Nope.

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grygrx@reddit

You never have to solve for X?

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Darth_Malgus_1701@reddit (OP)

No. Not outside of the classroom at least.

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AgentOrcish@reddit

This is what ChatGPT is for now. I’m 52 and I have never used algebra in my life.

I HAVE used geometry a lot in my hobbies.

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Efficient-Sir-5040@reddit

All the time when making calculations that have to do with sizing, projecting figures, anything that has to do with money - present value, future value, ROI… anything that isn’t menial grunt work.

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crashorbit@reddit

Back of the envelope estimates are critical. Understanding what performance level the equipment can possibly deliver lets you gauge if more performance tuning can he help.

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tbrumleve@reddit

Yes, often.

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ajnozari@reddit

More than I expected.

The first time was for a whiteboard I was raked with building before the pandemic. Now it’s for 3D models and man would my math teacher have the biggest grin on her face right now.

Mrs. Benedict you were right, I did need everything you taught me and more!

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snoopyh42@reddit

You’ve never done power calculations for a server rack?

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Darth_Malgus_1701@reddit (OP)

No. I never got that far in IT.

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Dizzy-Ad4584@reddit

Everyday

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was_fired@reddit

Yes, if you're doing DevOps then there's a reasonable chance someone is going to ask you what something will cost to run in the cloud or expected resource consumption. So given request rate of X and a spin-up time of Y for new instances each of which can handle Z requests at a time with a requirement that you ensure that 90% of all requests take less than T time (including potential spin up latency). What do you spec your environment to given a standard safety margin for the cost estimate which will be checked in 6 months?

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djgizmo@reddit

Yes simple algebra all day long.

Ratios Conversions

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ALCO251@reddit

Daily and unintentionally.

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arlissed@reddit

I had a friend once point out that the MaxMSP patches I was making leaned on algebra, which was news to me (I flunked out of high school-level math.)

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knightofargh@reddit

If you’ve ever used conditional logic in a script you’ve technically exceeded Algebra I. Proofs in Geometry are there to teach logic.

For loops over an iterable are just running guess and check style variables (this is an oversimplification intentionally). There’s a ton of math in computer science, you just don’t realize you are using it because of the abstraction layer.

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UnexceptionableHobby@reddit

All the time

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Inigomntoya@reddit

I programmed PLCs for industrial plants. I put together one hell of a quadratic expression to open and close a variable flow control valve to maintain water level in a tank.

It worked perfectly to open the valve more if the tank was too high and close the valve more if it was too low. But if the level was perfect, it would maintain the position of the valve.

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LingualEvisceration@reddit

Very simple algebra, sure. Expressions? Absolutely. Linear equations? Polynomials, etc? Not so much.

I got interested in video game programming, and that's pretty heavy on vector math, even when using a great engine.

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Vicus_92@reddit

Depends on your definition I suppose.

Variables are used constantly in scripts. If your definition of Algebra is any numerical variable used as a part of some math, then sure.

But I've never needed to know how long it takes a train to go from A to B assuming C*A==B

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ConspiracyHypothesis@reddit

But I've never needed to know how long it takes a train to go from A to B assuming C*A==B

You've never needed to estimate file transfer times based on rate?

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Vicus_92@reddit

I take that back I suppose....

Thanks high school maths teacher!

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SM_DEV@reddit

Absolutely. I this the basis for logic and algorithms.

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funktopus@reddit

No I have the internet to do it for me.

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Famous-Narwhal-5667@reddit

Delta time is sued all the time in monitoring, it’s even referenced as output in monitor commands.

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numtini@reddit

All the time.

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m4ng3lo@reddit

Uhmmmmm

Tautology? Truth tables? That's the basis for Boolean logic!

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ManyInterests@reddit

Every cost analysis you do will involve using algebra.

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cottonycloud@reddit

If you’re talking about high school algebra, quite often since I work with spreadsheets and calculating expressions, but that’s more on the data reporting side.

Modular arithmetic and the knowledge that the straight line is the shortest distance (usually) are also helpful to know.

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many_dongs@reddit

Literally constantly

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No_Strawberry_5685@reddit

I actually did hah I was showing a junior dev why his proposed implementation was incorrect (we showed that his loop invariant was faulty)

Also came up a couple times in talking about feasibility of some proposed solutions to restructuring mainly how inefficient some changes could be

I think we also did something with trees when we were restructuring our network layout but Donno if that counts here

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Kulandros@reddit

Yes.

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mercurygreen@reddit

Yes, anytime I have to program/script something.

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OmegaNine@reddit

Probably every day at least 50 times. Sometimes I know the value of x and sometimes I have no idea what it’s going to be but it’s all algebra. There are also all those times where I don’t have an eta but I know 100 records too 1 minute to process and I know I have 1000 records so I know it should be around 10 minutes. Over simplified but you get the meaning.

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CraigAT@reddit

Yes to calculate the optimum amount of base and additional storage set on an Azure eSAN, in order to optimise the IOPS for the cost.

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Cormacolinde@reddit

Regularly, usually to optimize or solve basic stuff, or using a rule of three for a ratio. I’ve used some more advanced stuff when calculating wifi antenna placement and height requirements.

I use statistics from time to time, usually to analyze monitoring data or provide risk analysis.

I use stuff like linear regression and curve fitting regularly, when calculating trends or analyzing performance data. You’d be surprised how often the gamma function comes up in everyday situations.

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