# Math in Undergrad College Theatre Programs



## Footer (May 27, 2014)

Just curious on this one... for those of you who have or are currently in college, how much math was included in your education? How much of this: http://etcp.plasa.org/candidateinfo/riggingexams/docs/Formula_Sheet_2010.pdf makes sense from what you learned in undergrad?

When you left could you calculate:
-Bridle legs
-Weight on bridle legs
-Point loads on a beam
-Multiple point loads on a beam
-Type of beam needed for a given load
-Cantilevers
-Shock loads
-Mechanical Advantage
-Fleet angles
-Deflection of a beam
-Leg (column) strength
-Specify a column


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## josh88 (May 27, 2014)

As a theatre major I wasn't required to take math at all. I had to take a stats class as an education major before switching.


Via tapatalk


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## derekleffew (May 27, 2014)

Footer said:


> ... How much of this: http://etcp.plasa.org/candidateinfo/riggingexams/docs/Formula_Sheet_2010.pdf makes sense from what you learned in undergrad?


I see nothing on there that I didn't learn in grade 8 algebra. Not the actual formulae, but the methods in manipulating the terms. Distributive property, associative properly, multiply both sides of the equation by the reciprocal, and so on.


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## soundman (May 27, 2014)

As Derek said, its all just algebra. I graduate college in 2008 and wouldn't have been able to do any of the things you ask. My degree was in Theatre with an Emphasis on Design I think we learned Ohm's law and how to calculate beam spread.


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## cmckeeman (May 27, 2014)

How many theater undergrads are studying rigging like that?


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## TheaterEd (May 28, 2014)

I tested out of having to take math as an arts major. That said, I'm pretty confident that I could handle these equations.


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## oneeyedpug (May 29, 2014)

I know at Cal State Fullerton there is a class where these formulas are thought to the theater tech majors.


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## cbrandt (May 29, 2014)

My theater program was tied to an engineering program. Basically you graduated with an emphasis in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, or computer science. That being said, all of those classes were taken in the other departments, and nothing was applied to theatrical concepts. All well and good to take a class on using differential equations to calculate dynamic loads on a beam, but that is rarely the kind of math that goes into the functioning theater world.

Short answer, I got plenty of math, but none of it was the right math to make entertainment or theater easier.


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## themuzicman (May 30, 2014)

I went to an engineering school as an undergrad (I've been out for three years). Every student was required to take 6 credits of math unless they tested out via the AP Calc I and II tests. The first 100 level math class was equivalent to the second year of high school calculus. Needless to say, never having taken the first year of any high school calculus the class was either sink or swim. Got through it, finished the second semester and graduated somehow.

Our formal theater program had no set in stone math requirements above the university, however if you were on a technical track you could take the rigging class or the "math for TD's" class. Rigging was taught out of Glerum's book essentially, with added practical hands on. Math for TD's used a handful of rigging books, structural engineering for the stage, and a separate book on Statics that the engineering department used. 

Needless to say, while I didn't understand that chart until my last year in college, the bulk of it makes sense now.


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## dbaxter (May 30, 2014)

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned trigonometry. I need to use it all the time to figure out cut angles and distances during set building. Or does everybody have the luxury of working from CAD drawings?


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## masterelectrician2112 (Jun 1, 2014)

I'm currently at University of North Carolina School of the Arts and I will be taking rigging in 2 semesters. UNCSA students are not required to have any math past pre calculus which I took my senior year of high school, but I would say I could do any of that math by the end of freshman year of high school.


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## Dionysus (Jun 5, 2014)

At Sheridan College we did simple electrical math (Ohm's Law), and the math required for lighting design to start. We did some SOME rigging math in rigging, however its been enough years I don't remember what all we did. For those who actually had the ATD position in the last year you may learn more. Otherwise further learning of rigging math etc was mostly left to you to pick up afterwards.
This is mostly because most of the people were expected never to do rigging after school was over, the emphasis on the "rigging" people like lighting, audio and set crews would need.

Then again now up here in Canada you need an engineer stamped drawing anyways for a lot of stuff where you'd really need to crunch numbers.


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