Calculus

[mkwan]

calculus rocks!

[nb3004]

ok im doing thr hw now, and i am cursing and throwing things like a madman, i still dont understand what a derivative is or the product rule or quotient rule are ::!!!!!!!!

[mr. k]

isn't a derivative [lim (x) + lim (x+1)]/2
or something? I can't wait until we actually start doing real math, we have a review test on different kinds of functions tomorrow :b
I hope I can understand calc!

[nb3004]

i have no idea in college we move so fast that it has gone from little problems like that to one functions or problems or whatever they are called, it sucks so much if you cant think the way you are supposed to for this crap

[Dusky]

Get a TI89. When I got stuck with a problem, I'd use the TI89 to help me figure out its answer, by coming up with facts.

If (3)/(x^-2)=2, is 3x^2=2? My TI89 would help me determine if the statement was true or not. And if it was true, then I'd be able to transform the problem into something simpler.

[Arden]

I got a 5 on the AP Calculus AB exam. No joke. Ask me if you have any questions.

Naturally, I can't remember what the first thing you learn in Calculus is, before the derivative... something with an F... grr!

[RacerX]

I ended up majoring in Mathematics, but I sure didn't start out liking it.

In high school, by my junior year, I just hated school completely. I cut classes all the time, but still managed to get 4s on all my AP exams (Physics B, Physics C Mechanics, Physics C E&M and Calculus AB). After high school I took two years off before going back to school (as a physics major at the time).

I always loved physics and just thought the math was there to help out. After I took a Classical Differential Geometry course, I was hooked! After two years of straight courses in mathematics (Differential Geometry, Calculus on Manifolds, Lie Geometries, Differentiable Manifolds, Riemannian Geometry, Integration on Manifolds and Clifford Algebras) I realized that I was enjoying the Mathematics way more than the Physics series I was taking at the time (Mechanics, Electromagnetism and Quantum Mechanics). So I switch majors and had Physics as a minor.

But honestly, it didn't become really fun until after Differential Equations. And doing research was the best!

The most fun I ever had in Mathematics was while working for the National Science Foundation's Geometry Center. There were about 30 of us there, and I was the only one not doing computer oriented research (I was doing pure math and couldn't apply the computers to helping me). It was a great environment. They payed for everything (food, lodging, entertainment), we had no hours to speak of (some of us even went camping one week), and I was getting paid (the money was a combination of funding from the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy). I was lucky to get that position and I know it was because one of my two letters of recommendation at the time was from a Fields Medalist (I had secured letters from three Fields Medalist before taking my extended break, I most likely could only count on one after this long).

I should get back to school at some point, but moving back to San Diego isn't that easy and I'm a little out of practice when it comes to taking courses (though I've thought about sitting in on some here in Minnesota). I know I'm not going to be able to just jump back in where I left off (part way through the Lie Groups and Lie Algebras series), but I do miss it... specially doing research.

When you get past a certain point, it really can be fun. I just don't remember Calculus being that point.

[Dusky]

something with an F...

...unctions? Limits of functions?