Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal by Zach Weinersmith for August 13, 2023

There are limits, Jenkins. There are limits.

I know I am strange, I have a degree in astrophysics, but calculus made perfect sense from the first moment in Mr Crow’s maths… sorry, math… class. He even had a 2 m long slide rule on the wall for teaching how to use one, but calculators had just come in and I never learned.

√x is in the running… 2 in the function, at least 5 in the derivative 1/(2√x) if you write it as a vertical fraction, 7 as shown.

First semester calc destroyed any chance of understanding calculous. I had a professor who should’ve retired long before. He taught it more as a set of rules, without logic. When I got to calc 2 I was barely able to pass. Calc 2 made a little more sense (better professor), but without the basics I couldn’t master it.

Went to collage in the 60’s. Think I got a D in Pre Calc. Regular Calculous was a total mystery to me. Took a little blue pill (compose) to relax, flunked the course. The prof. never faced the class, just filled the black board with formulas. Switched majors from engineering to Psych. I still have my slide rules though.

Anybody in the class go on to integral calculus?

Given the number of functions of finite length, it sounds like a very time consuming task.

I took calculus in college. (I barely passed). I have never needed to use it.

General Rule…. If you don’t get at least a C, don’t admit you took it. If you don’t get at least a B, don’t try to use it. If you don’t get an A, don’t try to teach it.

For tomorrow, tell why and show your work.