Anyone else do this: Math on graphpaper?

[SeerSGB]

I never paid much attention to the fact I do this till my wife asked me about it recently. I've been doing all my math, even the most basic stuff, on graphpaper since highschool. Yeah, I'll doodle on a napkin or a 50 cent notepad, but I always try to keep a notebook or pad of graphpaper with me, if for not other reason than long handing math problems.

Apparently I'm "odd" for this, but I really can't see why. To me it just what you do if you're working out equations by hand, that's how my AP Algebra II teacher taught me and its stuck.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

Our maths was also done on "square paper" with finer graph paper reserved for specialist algebra or geometry. It seemed to make sense at the time, really.

 

[Plecostomus]

I do as well.

Helps keep place-values aligned properly. Very important in my field. .03 and .003 can result in damaged machines and ruined product.

 

[CorporalClegg]

I do. I started in fifth grade.
The teacher liked to give us more "advanced" students massive long division problems that were up to ten digits on a side (He was a Sadist.)

He gave us graph paper to help keep things organized with such big numbers. I just found I preferred it and kept doing it for all my math work.

Actually, most of my high school teachers seemed to appreciate it as it generally made the homework easier to grade.

 

[SeerSGB]

That's the biggest reason I do it: Keeps long equations neat and easier to read. Plus when you're working on a webdesign project, it helps to scratch out a rough idea of placement and sizes, plus keep hex-codes neat and clean for easy reference.

I still do a lot of 1st draft writing/design/layout and math on sheets of graph paper, with an old science calculator for any "heavy lifting" math-wise.

I'm in search now for a good edc pocket notebook of graph-paper and a qood- but cheap- lead holder.

 

[Plecostomus]

Trig is my weapon... apparently the world is made of triangles and if you control the triangles you can control the world... or at least manipulate angles and flange lengths and other interesting things that relate to production.

 

[SeerSGB]

Trig is my weapon... apparently the world is made of triangles and if you control the triangles you can control the world... or at least manipulate angles and flange lengths and other interesting things that relate to production.

Give me a Pocket Ref., some graph paper, good mechanical pencil, and a cup of tea/coffee and I'll be happily preoccupied for hours on end.

It's just amazing to me to see my young relatives still in school scoff at doing this stuff with nothing but your brain, a pen (the mark of the graph paper ninja) and a sheet of paper. Hell my wife thinks it's "cute" that I still read math texts or spend time learning new equations I'll never use.

 

[Plecostomus]

Trig is my weapon... apparently the world is made of triangles and if you control the triangles you can control the world... or at least manipulate angles and flange lengths and other interesting things that relate to production.

Give me a Pocket Ref., some graph paper, good mechanical pencil, and a cup of tea/coffee and I'll be happily preoccupied for hours on end.

It's just amazing to me to see my young relatives still in school scoff at doing this stuff with nothing but your brain, a pen (the mark of the graph paper ninja) and a sheet of paper. Hell my wife thinks it's "cute" that I still read math texts or spend time learning new equations I'll never use.

Everything I do comes back to an X, Y, Z graph, That's all CNC machining is. So you have to know how to translate from one location to another, plot points along curves and all that jazz... in addition to knowing properties of materials, types of cutters/endmills/drill-bits and a whole host of other specific things related to the trade.

Problem begins when you get these "computer drawing wizards" out of school who can draw it but don't know how it all breaks down into actual machine paths and stuff of that nature. Just because you can draw a sexy organic shape on the screen doesn't mean the machine can make it.

45 and 90 degree angles exist for a reason!

 

[ancientone51]

I only used it for graphing, but I like the idea of using it for math work.
Will have to try it.

I also agree, kids today can't grasp the basics and we just teach them how to use a calculator.

 

[RoJoHen]

I can see why one would do it, but I personally never have. I have remarkably neat handwriting, so keeping equations and stuff organized has never been an issue.

 

[Rincewiend]

We had to use those big 1 x 1 cm graph exercise-books in highschool...
I thought they where cumbersome, so i switched to 0.5 x 0.5 cm graph exercise-books...
I had the mentally convert all the graphs to make them fit, but they where great for writing down the formulas, kept them all nice and tidy looking...

 

[Smiley]

I haven't used graph paper since college. I can keep my calculations orderly without lines. Most of the math done for presentation purposes in my accounting position uses Excel or Adobe PDFlyer.

 

[Michael Chris]

I used it in my math classes. I should also mention the only math class that ever heavily relied on calculators was stats. Probably won't be working with those kind of things very much anymore.

 

[Lumen]

I do math on everything. But usually it's just whatever paper I happen to have. I'm not very particular about it.

 

[WillsBabe]

Until this thread came up I had absolutely no memory that we used to do this at primary school. Wow, that memory had been hiding in the back of my brain somewhere!

 

[RoJoHen]

Until this thread came up I had absolutely no memory that we used to do this at primary school. Wow, that memory had been hiding in the back of my brain somewhere!

Is it an important memory that will now unlock some secret ancient technology? Because if not, you're way too excited about it.

 

[Chimpy Chompy]

I do a fair bit of math at work but i just doodle it on whatever bit of paper is to hand. Am usually just reminding myself of some principle or other anyway (usually some bit of trigonometry i've shamefully forgotten).

 

[pookha]

a thousand years ago when i was in school yeah.
but the lines just seemed to be distracting so i just use whatever paper is on hand.

how much i use a calculator has to do with how much rest i have had.
even then i might do something on paper and then run the figure through on the calculator.

 

[Jadzia]

We had 5mm squares at school. That was the last time I used it.

In later years, I've mostly used ruled paper for calculations. I really don't mind using it and I don't think anything of it.

On plain paper my scrawlings can be untame, although I can seem to cram more in to each page because I can write smaller. Also I can turn the page on it's side and fit more workings out in all the little gaps, drawing boxes around these bits to emphasise that they're separate and out of sequence, etc.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

I never paid much attention to the fact I do this till my wife asked me about it recently. I've been doing all my math, even the most basic stuff, on graphpaper since highschool. Yeah, I'll doodle on a napkin or a 50 cent notepad, but I always try to keep a notebook or pad of graphpaper with me, if for not other reason than long handing math problems.

Apparently I'm "odd" for this, but I really can't see why. To me it just what you do if you're working out equations by hand, that's how my AP Algebra II teacher taught me and its stuck.

Not odd at all. Back when I was in school that's all I used for math problems (5 squares per inch). Now, not as much (I don't really have the need for writing out equations that often), but I always have some graph paper handy.

I even frequently write lists, ideas, and stories on it, because I like that it gives you vertical guidelines as well to keep things organized, the lines are spaced closer together to give you more room to write, and ideas related to the first point can be listed in a staggered pattern like so:

1
-2
--3
---4
----5

Plus, I usually draw sketches associated with the ideas, and the graph lines makes it easier to draw neatly.