Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Wednesdays are for Whatever

I was trying to think of a good theme for Wednesdays in November, but couldn't come up with anything that I could continue for four weeks. So I made the executive decision that Wednesdays are for Whatever. Today, "Whatever" is calculus, but no calculus will be inflicted upon readers!


Part of Ryan's work as a graduate student involves teaching. I visited his Calculus I class last year, and got some wonderful insights into what kind of adult he was becoming. During my visit this year, I attended his Calculus II class, twice. It was great to see him teach, even if his lessons on Taylor series and convergence did point out some rather large gaps in my knowledge. I had Calculus I through III, did well, and would have even said that I understood the subject, but that was more than 35 years ago, and now I barely remember functions, limits, and derivatives.


I don't think I'll have many occasions to use calculus in my life today, but to test myself, I signed up for Calculus I through Ohio State/Coursera. It's self-paced, and I'm prepared to go through it slowly and multiple times if need be. I think it might be a fun valuable mental challenge, and if I fail miserably, well, I'll just never mention it again!

7 comments:

  1. wow! and yay! for you... I hope you have fun, and learn...and share a few little bits back here with us. great, too, to see Ryan "at work".

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  2. I actually loved calculus . . . back in the day. (Although I stopped after Calc II.) I remember Not Remembering Much when Brian was taking it a couple of years ago. I suppose it's still there . . . in the way-back part of my brain. (But that's where it's going to stay.) Good luck with your course! That's awesome.

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  3. I'm not even going to touch this one. For awhile I worked through Khan Academy and I need to get back to it. It was fun to learn more about maths and I (mostly) enjoyed the challenge.

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  4. Ummm. Good for you? LOL. It must be nice to see Ryan in that setting.

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  5. Bonny--thanks for your comment on my blog--I will get some of that and keep it in the house in case that happens again. Disconcerting is a good word to describe that!

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  6. You're crazy! (And I mean that with all the love in my mathless soul.) Glad you go to see him in action again!

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  7. Yeah. I remember finally "getting" Geometry about 2 weeks before the end of the year... math is NOT my thing. But go YOU!! ;)

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