New Horny Dinosaur

[Ibsen]

Interesting, really interesting. I was thinking of becoming an paleontologist myself, but it was just too much darned math I idnt know, and now I am thinking of becoming an osteologist instead.

I heard some acdemic complain about th fact that there arent any "cool" names give to dinosaurs anymore, I think he´s partlially right, I mean, Tyranosaurus Rex sound much meaner then, Albertaceratops nesmoi. But then again, you cant name something on the basis of sounding cool, it got to mean something too.

Bah! I am no paleontologist. The things I will be able to do as an osteologist is to say things like "This is the skelleton of a 15 year old girl, that had 6 children and eat that, and that and that, and lived here. And she died by being eaten by a saber toothed cat". Kinda.

 

[TxRad]

I thought this was a thread about my generation but....... they missed the title.... Dirty Old Horny Dinosaurs.....

 

[Tom Collins]

You need to know more than basic math to be a paleontologist?

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

You need to know more than basic math to be a paleontologist?

To become a paleontologist you need a lot more math than just the basics. It's a great field to be in if you love the out of doors. However, unless you are the well paid head of some natural history museum or a tenured professor at a large University, I hope you don't mind slave wages and hard work with no thanks.

The same goes for Archeologists.

 

[Ibsen]

But there is no math needed for archeologists, fortunatly. Not in the universities in Sweden anyway.

 

[Ibsen]

A book I highly recommend if you like dinosaurs is Jurassic Park, and the sequel, The Lost World. Both by Michael Crichton.

Really funny reading. Ian Malcolm is the funnies character I´ve ever encountered in a book. I laughted endlessly at his escapades, and learned a thing about chaos theory.
Its much more deeper then the movie. Perhaps not surprising.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

But there is no math needed for archeologists, fortunatly. Not in the universities in Sweden anyway.

Not true, Ibsen. Math is needed because archeology includes parts of Earth Sciences, Geology, Human Biology, Geneology, Physics and Organic Chemistry. Those are all math based sciences.

I started out in college as an archeology major, when through all the math and sciences then switch majors.

 

[Ibsen]

Well, I qualify to the archeology courses in all the universities in Sweden, and I havent particulary much math. I am not saying your wrong, but there is no math requirements for those courses, archeology, osteology or egyptology. I´ve talked to the student counselor about that, and she said that, as she also has a hard time with math, she´s glad it isnt much. And yes, she is a educated archeologist.

Sure, some math most likely will apear, but it cant be that extreme.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Well, I qualify to the archeology courses in all the universities in Sweden, and I havent particulary much math. I am not saying your wrong, but there is no math requirements for those courses, archeology, osteology or egyptology. I´ve talked to the student counselor about that, and she said that, as she also has a hard time with math, she´s glad it isnt much. And yes, she is a educated archeologist.

Sure, some math most likely will apear, but it cant be that extreme.

Maybe the world is changing, Ibsen. Archeology is becoming a forensic science rather than a cultural science.

For instance, Baylor, Northwestern, USC and a number of other universties I checked all require math through, at least, statistics in the US. I doubt the archeologist or paleontologiest would be using it much. The way it's done now, a find is referred to a "specialist" in geophysics, forensics, etc., all which require math. But the thought is, the archeologist still has to have some idea.

 

[Ibsen]

I think it is some diffirence on what our respective countries emphazises on when it comes to archeology.

Paleontology is a part of the geo-science programmes here, so thats a "hard" subiect while the archeology courses more is a "soft" subiect. If that were to change I would know of it. There are courses for those who are to be lab-archeologists, and there its math, but those arent diggers.

I say enough OT.