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Vector Calculus is useful for Quant ??

Joined
8/4/10
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Hello, I'm just curious whether or not vector calculus(eg. line integral,vector field,div,curl,green,stoke,...) is useful for Quant.

The class I have taken (Cal3) and the next class (Ad Cal) are involved with many vector calculus topics ,which I see it is very useful for physics , but not for finance or even probability&statistics. As a result, I should not take a lot of my time to practice about this..Yes or No?
...or ,perhaps, I may be mistaken in believing like that since I've not known quant fields well enough.

Could anyone give some suggestions ? Thank you...
 
Vector calculus, also known as mutli-variable calculus... is EXTREMELY useful for "quant" mathematics... it is basically the backbone of much of the higher math that you will take later on...
 
Actually euroazn, I think he's only talking about the "vector" part of multi-variable calculus, which deals with divergence, curl, surface and line integrals, Green's and Stokes' theorems, etc. Most (if not all) of those concepts are not used as far as I know by quants. Multivariable calc is used, and so is change of coordinates (which falls in both Calc 3 and 4 courses depending on school).

So to answer Joker's question, I would say no, vector calc isn't needed.
 
The class I have taken (Cal3) and the next class (Ad Cal) are involved with many vector calculus topics
Well, Cal3 is for sure useful. You can't get by with just the first year of calculus.

Good point though, koupparis.
 
But also keep in mind that quite a few people who interview you will have physics backgrounds.
 
Many concepts in vector calculus are used in complex analysis -- which has interesting applications in solving differential equtions. So I can see that it can have its uses in the quant field, though not necessarily necessary.

Some basic stuff is vital, such as gradients etc
 
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