1) As others have pointed out, the example you use is not really calculus as such but about mathematical proofs. This might have not been covered in your college degree. You can pick this up if you want to, at least to the level required to follow the binomial example. It's interesting, its application in most jobs out there is limited though.
2) Math generally can get really, really hard. Insanely hard. It gets harder and harder for long, long time after it has reached the level that most mortals can understand.
2b) Fortunately (for most of us), the ability to earn money with math doesn't seem to increase significantly beyond the basic calculus, algebra, ... level.
You are basically right. That's what makes the job of the federal reserve bank so hard. They need to measure V and T, which you rightly point out is not easy, and then they need to adjust M to keep P stable. And as you further rightly point out they only control a small part of M, i.e. the amount of cash.
It basically works by the Reserve Bank having a good guess at V and T and then adjusting the cash rate hoping that it will encourage banks to adjust their general loan rates accordingly and thus having a significant enough impact on M.
But doesn't the federal reserve uses Consumer Price Index(CPI) to measure P. Looking at how CPI is measured, it doesn't seem like it has a strong correlation with M. Cost is directly related to M, but price is not. Under these circumstances, doesn't it encourage merchants to artificially up the sales price to maximize their profit, regardless of the cost?
and if the fed tries to lower the value of dollars to counter act this, wouldn't it ultimately dilute the profit of those who maintained the lower price? Thus starting the vicious cycle of price hikes
1) Unless you have moral problems with the business domain, why not for a bank? Good salaries, interesting / challenging work, usually mature career development programs, ....
2) I had similar experiences. While our situations differs in some key aspects (I'm much older, have university degrees, long work history), my work history has also not been the text-book IT career path for most of the time. I also found banks much more interested in me than IT firms.
3) My speculation on why that is: Banks are better (in light of recent bank problems, maybe "more willing") at risk taking. Your circumstances make you less predictable than a candidate that has a "standard" career path. Big corporate IT is a lot about minimising risk. IT chooses the candidate that poses the least risk of a bad hiring decision. Banks may be willing to accept higher risk for higher potential return. My speculation is based on conversations I had about this topic with a small sample hiring managers at banks and IT HR managers I worked with.
" The Atari + German book reference indicates:
* Interest in legacy computing / systems history "
No. I'm just that old. I read the book when the Atari ST was state of the art :-)