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Take that calculus!!!

Buschmaster said:
My physics text is Wednesday, good to hear you did well! What type of history did you take? I love history, I'm taking US since 1877 next semester.
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I'm actually doing the test right now. It's a take-home essay that is a real pain about how intellectual elites influence society.

The course is a West Civ survey course from Greeks to the death of Louis XIV. The prof is awesome, two tests, 6 graded discussion hours and that's it. :D

P.S. I'd rather be in your history class. US history is much more interesting.
 
tringo said:
it's basically what Americans call Math. Or I think in South Africa they may call it Algebra.
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Nah, I know for sure that calculus is different. I've heard of it before but have no idea wtf it really is. I know it's not "math" or "algebra"
 
Jasonbot said:
Nah, I know for sure that calculus is different. I've heard of it before but have no idea wtf it really is. I know it's not "math" or "algebra"
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Calculus is based on two things; differentials and boundary conditions. Calc I and II, however, focuses centrally on calculating derivatives (rates of change) and integrals (area, volume, etc).
 
AvSRoCkCO1067 said:
Calculus is based on two things; differentials and boundary conditions. Calc I and II, however, focuses centrally on calculating derivatives (rates of change) and integrals (area, volume, etc).
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Differentials, like variable rights?
boundary conditions :confused:

rate of change, like graphs?

area volume= can't be too hard??
 
Jasonbot, have you ever taken calculus? It's hard for many many people. A lot of people have to take it multiple times to get through it. It was hard for me as well, and I was happy to do well in it.
 
Buschmaster said:
I just took my calculus final and I rocked it. It feels so good to have done well and know that all my studying payed off.

I'll get my results in a week or so I'm sure. How are everyone else's finals going? This seems to be the start of finals week for most of us.
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I had my calculus last friday. Was pretty ok. I posted some problems i had on here and the help was great. I have Electronics tomorrow, which is what i am studying for right now. Good luck all.
 
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princealfie said:
The last calculus class I took was Calculus III at Vanderbilt in Fall 1994. I got a 99.8% for the whole class.

I only missed one test question. I was mad! :mad:
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Dang Im impressed you know what your grade was what almost 13 years ago... lol


tringo said:
it's basically what Americans call Math. Or I think in South Africa they may call it Algebra.
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are you kidding me? calculus is not just american and no way is it algebra. it is literally the most important math there is by far. pretty much lets you describe all things in motion and whatnot. differential equations is a spinoff of calc and that is very interesting as well. that deals with things such as vibration dampening, rates, etc

i personally like calculus alot out of all math classes as it is the most useful
 
Jasonbot said:
Differentials, like variable rights?
boundary conditions :confused:

rate of change, like graphs?

area volume= can't be too hard??
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No not area volume; it's not like finding a volume of a cube or a cylinder. Rather, it's finding the area underneath a function, or the flux of a surface, etc.

Calculus is extremely challenging; no one, regardless of how many years of math they have taken, could ever know every application calculus offers.

There's not too much preparation you can do for your calculus class; most teachers approach the abstract concepts differently, although the underlying concepts are the same. Once you understand the basics (and I mean really understand the basics), you'll be able to move off on your own tangent.

Best of luck - don't be cocky, though - calculus is easy for no one (except those that memorize a process, rather than actually understanding the concepts) :)
 
gauchogolfer said:
Hello again fellow Mines person, it's good to hear you're doing OK and getting through that first semester.
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Mines is a very humbling place; the kids here are very hard working and very intelligent. The classes take a lot of work; but other than Calc III, this semester has gone alright :)
 
I've done pretty well in Calc III so far this semester. My Math classes for next semester include Matrices and Differential Equations. As geeky as it may sound, I'm pretty excited to take them! :eek:

Finals week for Penn State doesn't start until Monday. I have Macroeconomics, Basic C++ Programming, Asian Philosophy, Electricity and Magnetism (Physics), and Calc III. Good luck to everyone that is having/will have finals! :)
 
ah the joys of Calculus finals. I think I finished up with Cal III a little over 2 years ago. It has been 1.5 years since I have even took a "math course." I am in my upper level Engineering classes right now. I will say Good luck if you go on to cal II. And congrates.

As for my finals I have 1 opitional one left that I am sadly taking at 7:30AM because right now I am just shy of making an A in the class. Kind of sucks but I am willing to take it to try for an A.

I finish my 4th final today and Saturday was my rough day with my hardest final. Which I found out later I ended the course with a 79.8 and I know the teacher would of given me a C if I had a 79.4 so I cut that one pretty close.

Now everything is hanging on my last 2 finals if I will make deans list or not.
 
AvSRoCkCO1067 said:
No not area volume; it's not like finding a volume of a cube or a cylinder. Rather, it's finding the area underneath a function, or the flux of a surface, etc.

Calculus is extremely challenging; no one, regardless of how many years of math they have taken, could ever know every application calculus offers.

There's not too much preparation you can do for your calculus class; most teachers approach the abstract concepts differently, although the underlying concepts are the same. Once you understand the basics (and I mean really understand the basics), you'll be able to move off on your own tangent.

Best of luck - don't be cocky, though - calculus is easy for no one (except those that memorize a process, rather than actually understanding the concepts) :)
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What, calculus was the easiest course I took ever in college! I only studied like 1 hour a week for it... :) I should've taken linear algebra, durn myself!
 
princealfie said:
What, calculus was the easiest course I took ever in college! I only studied like 1 hour a week for it... :) I should've taken linear algebra, durn myself!
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Sounds like you're either Newton incarnate, lying, or didn't dive into some of the deeper, more difficult calc concepts...:p
 
Heh, I miss math....I'm a first year med student who majored in biochem during undergrad - really enjoyed math (maybe 'cause i love quantum mechanics). I never found calc hard - if you think about it, the theories are pretty simple but the applications are vast and you can get quite complicated very quickly. At my school, UNC Chapel Hill, Calc I is differential calc, Calc II is integral calc, Calc III is multivariable (which i think was the most challenging but interesting). Interestingly, the math courses that came after that, differential equations and linear algebra were quite a bit easer imho.
 
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