Comments on: Calculus Day!

By: Quick Links | A Blog Around The Clock

Quick Links | A Blog Around The Clock — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 00:03:23 +0000

[...] Calculus Day! [...]

By: Andrew Perrin

Andrew Perrin — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 22:58:39 +0000

Sounds like a neat book. I think the reader would have to be at least open to the idea that math could be interesting in order to get her/him to pick up the book, though. Maybe if you catch them young enough.

You carry a table of integrals in your back pocket

Whoa, retro, dude! We have calculators that handle that sort of thing now. Since, like, the 1990s.

By: This week in science - Online Political Blog

This week in science - Online Political Blog — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 22:07:22 +0000

[...] you knew calculus like Jennifer Oullette knows calculus, you’ll buy her book and never be afraid of calculus [...]

By: This week in science | Second Reagan Revolution

This week in science | Second Reagan Revolution — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 14:06:10 +0000

[...] you knew calculus like Jennifer Oullette knows calculus, you’ll buy her book and never be afraid of calculus [...]

By: Smokin' Deist

Smokin' Deist — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:19:51 +0000

This looks like a good book, but my first experience with Calculus starts this fall with Math 251 at my college. lol

By: HPLC

HPLC — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 01:51:22 +0000

Very cool!

By: S.C. Kavassalis

S.C. Kavassalis — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 01:47:28 +0000

Congrats to Jennifer! I’m sure I know a few people who I’ll be recommending this too.

By: plutosdad

plutosdad — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:46:29 +0000

Doesn’t everyone hate integrals? I remember at the saturday morning physics program at FermiLab, some researchers printed out the curves and weighed them to get the area. After that I didn’t feel bad about hating integrals.

By: bittergradstudent

bittergradstudent — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:41:23 +0000

Katharine:

Do you know about Gerard t’Hooft’s How to be a good theoretical physicist page? It contains a ton of quality links, often to free textbooks, taking you from pre-HS level science to string theory.

It’s not complete, by any means, but at least there’s a lot of information gathered in one place.

By: réalta fuar

réalta fuar — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 13:00:39 +0000

@Pat Dennis The dirty little secret of physics teachers is that first year PHYSICS gets you up to about the year 1800 in understanding physics…..

By: "Shecky R."

"Shecky R." — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 20:03:46 +0000

I actually stumbled upon the book last week at Borders and have already read through it. The best part is learning what romantics those brainy Caltech physicists are…

By: spyder

spyder — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 19:16:50 +0000

(to a certain degree of comic effect).

Oh, a new updated 21st century version of Eco’s Travels in HyperReality?

By: Rocket Scientista

Rocket Scientista — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:19:15 +0000

Yay for calculus and yay for trying to get people to not automatically chime in with a, “I HATE MATH” whenever I mention anything about doing science or engineering. Oh, and a final yay for getting soaked at Splash Mountain.

By: Mandeep

Mandeep — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 17:39:38 +0000

Very cool — looks like this is continuing in the thread of Danica McKellar’s very popular books of the last few years, making math much more accessible for girls and young women. This is an area in desperate need of attention (both for girls, and boys too), so i’m really glad to see this out.

Congrats Jennifer (and Sean!).

By: Katharine

Katharine — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 17:09:17 +0000

Diff eqs built the world. All science students should be required to take it.

I wish I could. It would help me in forming biological models.

Luckily, a computer science graduate student I ran into online (who happens to be the nephew of one of Romania’s rich weirdos, lol) has a good online textbook about elementary diff eqs: http://dtabacaru.com/ede.html

By: Pat Dennis

Pat Dennis — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:28:26 +0000

The physics amateur’s heartbreaking discovery: First year calculus gets you up to the year 1800 or so in understanding physics. It appears that you need the calculus of variations and partial differential equations to get through the ninteenth century, then differential geometry, linear algebra and group theory to make a decent inroad into the twentieth!
http://abstrusegoose.com/272

By: Jimbo

Jimbo — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:56:26 +0000

Jennifer’s book I’m sure is fun to read, & I hope it’s a success. Now, if we can just inject it into the early HS curriculum as mandatory for all. Our entire civilization RUNS on calculus, yet most are oblivious to it. Just today, more dismal results for Oregon’s math & reading scores for middle school students. It goes on & on, ad eternitum, and NOTHING significant ever changes. i.e., its the SOS for the multitudes & math learning.
The post-Sputnik PSSC HS physics revolution was supposed to help us compete w/ Soviet superiority in science, but did squat. Nor did the infusion of PCs into the classroom. Nor did any other extreme measures turn the faltering tide. Fully half of the US public has sub-HS level math ability. No wonder math is a 4-letter word…
I have a theory, which is borne out by Asian & Jewish student’s long-established excellence in math & science.
Not only are these students bilingual early on, but they learn to read & write English in parallel with Hebrew & e.g., Chinese characters. This combination is made even more potent, by their learning of music theory. By requiring the brain to assimilate & then utilize these abstract symbols early on, new learning channels are forged in gray matter, plowing fertile ground for the assimilation of mathematical symbols & logic later on.
We have no such potent triad imposed upon the majority of todays kids, who exhibit only mediocre English skills, and are ostensibly musically & mathematically illiterate.

By: Tweets that mention Calculus Day! | Cosmic Variance | Discover Magazine -- Topsy.com

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:28:43 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Sean Carroll, Carolina Ödman, Edd Edmondson, Alasdair Allan, Bruce Bolden and others. Bruce Bolden said: RT @seanmcarroll The Calculus Diaries are here! Spread the word! The zombies will thank you. http://is.gd/eNwO2 [...]