Do you use mathematical calculations during flights?

[OptiSTR]

Just was wondering, I saw some guides on how to calculate many different things during takeoff and so on...

So do you guys actually do it? Sitting with a notebook and a calculator and doing all that?

[ChrisK91]

Just was wondering, I saw some guides on how to calculate many different things during takeoff and so on...

So do you guys actually do it? Sitting with a notebook and a calculator and doing all that?

A few weeks back I did a IVA only Kerbin-Mün-Kerbin mission. To help me, I wrote a small application that helped me to calculate a few parameters for my flight (orbital velocity, phase angles, required delta V, delta V required for transfers, etc.). But this was the only time when I really did some calculation. Most times I just use Kerbal Engineer Redux and Maneuver Nodes.

[Linear]

Sometimes it's really fun to do it, not using nodes etc to help you. And doing it in IVA mode.

[2008dragon]

I made an excel sheet thing for basically every common maneuver where all you have to do is enter the orbital statistics and it calculates everything. However, now I just use mechjeb.

[tommygunyeah]

I don't actually know a lot of the maths behind all this which makes me sad, I do plan on learning though and just geeking out one day

[Deadpangod3]

I rarely ever use maneuver nodes, and my missions are quite successfull

[Nemoricus]

I tend to sit down and run some delta-v calculations before building rockets for interplanetary missions. It tends to work quite well for me, especially with Kerbal Flight Engineer to show the delta-v of my designs.

[Unistrut]

Mostly I use a calculator and notepad to figure burn times for my big interplanetary transfers. Every interplanetary ship has an accelerometer on it. Before a big burn I'd turn it on, right click on it and then floor the throttle for a second and note how many G's I was getting. I'd then bust out my calculator, multiply that by 9.8 to get the acceleration in m/s^2. I'd then use the maneuver node to figure out when to burn and how much dV I would need, and then use the acceleration calculated earlier to figure out about how long the burn would be. Not completely accurate, but better than the automatic calculator used to do.

[Felsmak]

No, I just fly.

[EndOfTheEarth]

Sorta? Most of it is time-estimations during descent and docking.

[sodopro]

Meh, I feel like learning it, but I can fly just fine without.

[ROFLCopter64bit]

I use my own tools for this kind of stuff

[Malaugrym]

I'd love to be able to plan out the entirety of any mission mathematically beforehand. However, I'm horrible with numbers. Doesn't stop me from trying though.

[ThatBum]

You know, I got KSP around the middle of 0.18.4. But, because I didn't get involved in this awesome community at the time, I didn't even know that maneuver nodes existed. And so, I did a Mun landing and a Gemini-style docking over Kerbin completely manually. The docking was pretty hard, but the Mun landing was not.

Then one day I accidentally clicked on an orbit and went "Add maneuver node, WTF is this now?" And then everything was easier.

Now I use a phase angles calculator to get to other planets.

[TheDarkStar]

I sometimes use math. For example, I calculate dV for some missions (like Moho trips or Eve ascent). However, I don't use phase angles, and almost never use maneuver nodes.