I really hate maths!

[Brendan]

Yeah. Basically I've always really hated maths. It's not that I can't do it because I can (better than most people) but I just find it so tiring and boring! I'm predicted an A at GCSE and am currently on target, I don't doubt I'll achieve that grade but I just can't stand the thought of any more maths after that. So my question is, how much maths exactly is there when going off to a college and how much is actually used at sea? I'm going to opt for the HND because I don't fancy taking my A levels and probably go for engineering. But is there a difference between deck and engineering regarding the mathematic workload?

[moose]

I'll give you an idea of phase 1 fd engine maths... Gcse level maths and a level mechanical maths. Torque and moment equations, stress and shear equations etc. It's midway between gcse and a level.

Engineers have formulas, while deck have calculations to work out courses, and stability etc. I'd say engineering is slightly more mathematical in that sense.

[Bulman]

Don't think any one likes maths to be honest pal, but don't let it drag you down try for that A. I doubt you really use much maths you learn at college, doing the FD but ETO course, so it's level 4 stuff in the first year (gcse is level 2), I'd say 90% I won't use at sea if not 99.9%, but just something you've got to do to advance your self.

Always gonna be something you hate doing and you have to deal with it, especially at sea their are some mundane jobs like painting, cleaning but you won't be getting out of them, my roommate spend two days scrubbing life jackets haha.

[chris]

Theres a lot of maths on the fd engineering course, similar to the level on the eto course, I can't imagine a time when you would need Laplace at sea, but who knows??

[thebrookster]

Engineering uses more, shall we say "practical" maths. (This is absolutely not a dig at deck guys, simply me struggling to find a descriptive in types of maths done.)

So expect to be using stress equations, torque and bending moments (in fact a goodly amount of basic physics style stuff). Basically, it will all relate back to a physical property that is needed somewhere, be that in building a ship, specc'ing the right thickness pipe etc etc. As a qualified engineer however, you will not be usign this stuff particularly, maybe your C/E or Tech Super might use it but more likely the domain of the architects and designers. You do need to know how it all works however, hence why you are taught it. (Very simplistic view, before anyone starts giving details of where they have used this stuff onboard, Basically as a junior officer you are very unlikely to use it in your day to day work.)

Deckies tend to use more theoretical kind of maths, as in things like spherical trig (for finding positions etc). You will have some stuff related to cargo operations, so maybe using densities etc to know how much crude you can load onto a tanker in different areas of the world, or dealing with ballast, but again this is normally done by a computer into which you plug figures, unless your C/O decides to test your knowledge you are pretty unlikely to be asked to do these calcs onboard. Obviously you may have to do the position stuff, but then that is primarily the job of Deck Officer (i.e knowing where you are, and what direction you need to head to get to your destination). Again, very simplistic view!!

So yeah, the amount of maths you will actually need onboard is fairly minimal, and what you will use will be mostly plugging figures into equations. So I wouldn't fret about the college side, once that is done it is done, just make sure you have a reasonable understanding for the Oral Examiner if he asks, and since you say you don't struggle with A level maths you should be fine for that.