What areas of Mathematics are often used in land surveying or the geosciences?

I'm strongly considering a career in surveying/geosciences. I have heard that you need to be very switched on with your maths. I did ok in Yr 12 Maths but nothing outstanding. That was 10 years ago so I'm a bit concerned about not being able to remember most of what I was taught. Any help?

What areas of Mathematics are often used in land surveying or the geosciences?
I'm answering the surveying part. You need geometery, trig, elevations, geographic contour familiarty, and be very fit. You will walk several miles each day. You need to know how to string distances using a "chain", find property and locator markers (usually brass caps that have been driven to mark boundry courners) and be able to read maps of all kinds. Just a heads up, you can't get lost...EVER!
Reply:Depends on how much academics you plan on taking. If you're aiming for post-graduate degrees (Masters or PhD), then you'll need to know a fair amount of math to be really good.





other than that, i would say that trigs are a definite must for surveying as well as the basic 3-course calculus sequence at most universities and a course in linear algebra or abstract algebra. Others that are usually need-to-know include differential equations and numerical analysis.





Some geophysicists that I know have taken advanced math courses like Adv Calculus or Analysis. I know fuzzy sets (which are senior-level math courses, bordering graduate level) are sometimes used.





So in answer to your question, a good geosciences program would usually have a lot of math in it. You can probably do okay, but I would recommend taking the early courses very, very seriously! You need to have a good understanding of the elementary stuff to even stand a chance in the higher levels.





As for surveying, this is a lot simpler than geosciences - the focus is more on trigs and not so much on diff eq'ns etc. It is, of course, much lower than geosciences in terms of prestige and difficulty (and pay)