Thanks for bringing this perspective in here. I have a complex-numbers project that I'm sure could profit from a chat with someone with your background: http://wry.me/m/ -- though it at least currently sucks, and I just want to make a fun and interesting toy (hard enough), not deal with the education system. Ping me if you feel like it?

This is relevant in that I have it in mind to eventually tackle trig-type problems in that program.