[mellye]

Calculus For The Scared – Part One

BY MELISSA SHARMA, INSIDER AGENT

Reading through the forums, I’ve come across something that is rather foreign to me. What is it you ask? People are terrified of math.

As a first year, I can share the pain of going to university and being terrified of new experiences, new challenges, making friends, etc. and that being said, I feel that being terrified of math is NOT a way to begin the first year.

So, how does one get over his or her phobia of math? The first way to convince you that you’ll be fine in university math is to take these common quotes and break it down:

“But I suck at math!” or “Math is stupid!”

This is a poor attitude towards math, not a fact. As a matter of fact, I said I sucked at math for years until I realized that math is not complicated. Now I’m majoring in math! How does one get over this? Tell yourself you can and find someone willing to help you! You’re in university now! This is the big leagues! If you think you’ll suck at something, you will!

Think you’ll be a burden? Yes, I don’t blame you. Sometimes you will be, but you don’t always have to ask someone who knows it all! How about someone who is having the same difficulty! Talk it out, figure out what you know and what you don’t understand and together, find a solution.

And math is not stupid. The next time you go to dinner with 20+ people, all of a sudden math is extremely important. Unless you’re willing to pay $10 more than you ate, then go ahead; Think math is stupid.

“I never learned anything in high school math!” or
“I slacked off and got a 50% and was extremely happy with it!” or
“I was always bad at math, so I didn’t work hard at it!” or
“I didn’t know I’d need math in university! I just wanted the high school credit to graduate, made sure I got it and stopped there!”

Don’t let your actions of the past forge your path in the future. Because you didn’t do well in high school math, it does not in ANY way make you incapable of university level math! It may be a lot of hard work and dedication to get the good grades, but it’ll be worth it when you earn a mark you know you worked hard for. Just know that you’re not alone! If you were to ask around, you’d probably find someone with the exact same high school math mentality as you!

“But I didn’t take grade 12 advanced function/calculus and vectors or both!”

So, you didn’t take calculus in grade 12? Don’t worry. Neither did anyone else. For those out there who are reading this and think they learned calculus in the Grade 12 Calculus and Vectors course, you’re only partially there, if even that much.

Calculus was originally developed by Sir Issac Newton and the study of calculus is the discipline of math that deals with limits, functions, derivatives, integrals and infinite series. In the Ontario course Calculus and Vectors, students learn the fundamentals of calculus. This includes limits and the study of derivatives and differentiating simple functions using the Product, Quotient and Chain rules. If their teacher had enough time, you might have learned rates of change and other applications of derivatives. If you were in IB, you learned integration. If you took Grade 12 Physics, you know some of the applications of these concepts. If you notice, unless you were in IB and physics, you still haven’t learned all of basic calculus and if you were, congratulations! You scratched the surface of basic calculus! That’s right! You still haven’t made it to the calculus block. Just the basic one!

So how does this make you feel better? Calculus is much more complicated than differentiating and integrating basic functions. The fact that your peers learned some of it in high school gives them three advantages:
1. They had a longer time to process how to do basic calculus with less independent thought.
2. They can take a higher level math course than you!
3. They didn’t have to pay for it!

But you’re a smart cookie! Learning it in university won’t be an issue! Why? Because you’ve learned the basics in grade 9-11 math! The following chart should help you bring back some old (possibly unwanted) memories of your math days in high school! They’re not expanded concepts, but you can assume anything related to these concepts are necessary. There are only two courses offered by McMaster that covers Calculus without taking Advanced Functions and Calculus and Vectors: MATH 1F03 and MATH 1K03.



How are these concepts useful? How can something in grade 9 help you in university level courses? Simple. Because university level math is nothing more than the expansion or rearrangement of these topics. You may even find yourself using two of these basic concepts at the same time! If you look at the list of math courses, McMaster offers an entire course based off of the concept y=mx+b (MATH 1B03: Linear Algebra).

If you don’t remember some of this, don’t be afraid! Neither would I! Don’t be afraid or embarrassed to google some of this stuff! The internet has millions of great resources that can help you refresh your memory. The key to being successful in first year math is to know you can do it and that the new concepts are just the old ones wearing a new outfit.

[Ownaginatios]

I don't remember people saying they hate math here :s... then again, maybe it's been drowned out by Mowicz saying how awesome math is all the time .

[lorend]

I hate math!

Well, math that has no purpose to me directly, like calc. I have no qualms with stats.

[thedog123123]

math is easier then most people think. You have to remember that all it is is a language that help explains relation. The better you know the basics the easier it is to do the more advanced stuff. And wow it is raining right now and i have to walk to work. God dammit. Anyways.

[Infinity]

I love math but it can get pretty hard. It just works for some people and for others its dreadful.

[lawleypop]

I love math!

People just psyche themselves up way too much. "Oh, it's going to be so hard, I'm going to fail, etcetc."

Go to class, do the problems, ASK if you don't understand. Simple. Math is just a series of steps. I've never understood how anyone could be bad at it.

-recites Pi-

Math <3

[Marlowe]

Originally Posted by lawleypop

I love math!

People just psyche themselves up way too much. "Oh, it's going to be so hard, I'm going to fail, etcetc."

Go to class, do the problems, ASK if you don't understand. Simple. Math is just a series of steps. I've never understood how anyone could be bad at it.

-recites Pi-

Math <3

Or just play pictionary all class.

[lawleypop]

Originally Posted by A.Marlowe

Or just play pictionary all class.

Lmao!

<333333

It definitely worked for us. XD

[~*Sara*~]

Awesome article!

[Mowicz]

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

I don't remember people saying they hate math here :s... then again, maybe it's been drowned out by Mowicz saying how awesome math is all the time .

What can I say? I have no life. xD *about to demonstrate this very point*

--------------------

I approve of this article. lol...like it matters. (:

I would like to be a bit more precise here though...the common usage of the word 'math' is actually refering to what's called arithmetic. Addition, Subtraction, Basic Algebra over the real numbers, things like that...they come up in every day life.

Math itself, at its purest form, encompasses a lot more than this. (:

Originally Posted by thedog123123

math is easier then most people think. You have to remember that all it is is a language that help explains relation.

Now to prove Dillon's point. xD

Yes, Calculus is in some sense the language of physics and the real world. Differential Geometry is the language of cosmology... But to say all math is, is physics' ***** is a great injustice! (I'm deliberately being melodramatic, don't mind me)

What Math at its purest form is, is a set of rules. (I'll use examples from Geometry because that's my area lol) A mathematician will say "What if I assume that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line?" and they will come to the conclusion that they live on a planar surface. But if a mathematician says "What if I assume that the shortest distance between two points is not a straight line?" then what does the surface in question look like? A mathematician first decides on these (and other) fundamental rules and can then visualize a shape or an object...and then they investigate properties of that object. "Does my surface have any holes?" "How curvey is it?" It comes down to axioms: Things which are assumed true without proof determine what a mathematician is working with.

What changes in my universe of discourse (ie. 'world') when I add in this extra axiom? What if I removed this one? That's what mathematics is all about..."How much can I mess up my world?"

It's really easy to create a mathematical system in which "2 + 2 = 5" is a theorem, without a contradiction. This is perfectly valid...we just know that's not "real life." We've adopted a model which (we hope) describes "real life" the best we can.


So to summarize, when asked, "Why do we need someone to solve equations?" or "What does a mathematician DO anyway?" I starkly respond "Mathematicians create worlds...And then tell you about them."

All Mathematicians have done (with the advent of calculus for instance) is create a universe which they think closely resembles ours.

Originally Posted by lawleypop

Go to class, do the problems, ASK if you don't understand. Simple. Math is just a series of steps. I've never understood how anyone could be bad at it.

It pains me to say however, that not everyone is capable of math. Be it the tragic story of the students who work hard every day in essential-level highschool classes, but just can't see the pattern that 0 * anything = 0...or the math student who was in a car accident, lost part of their brain and could no longer do math, not everyone is capable.

However...every student taking the math is capable. If you weren't, you would not be considering university.

------------------

To jump back to Dillon's point: Math is only a series of steps at this stage. xD It's actually been proven mathematically that mathematics is not deterministic...which basically means we can never make a computer program that will discover math. It will always take human ingenuity, creativity.


------------------


EDIT: PS, I noticed Melissa has referenced Math 1B03...I've recently posted a review of Math 1B03, if anyone's interested:

http://www.macinsiders.com/showthread.php?t=2289 2

[lawleypop]

Originally Posted by Mowicz

What can I say? I have no life. xD *about to demonstrate this very point*

--------------------

I approve of this article. lol...like it matters. (:

I would like to be a bit more precise here though...the common usage of the word 'math' is actually refering to what's called arithmetic. Addition, Subtraction, Basic Algebra over the real numbers, things like that...they come up in every day life.

Math itself, at its purest form, encompasses a lot more than this. (:



Now to prove Dillon's point. xD

Yes, Calculus is in some sense the language of physics and the real world. Differential Geometry is the language of cosmology... But to say all math is, is physics' ***** is a great injustice! (I'm deliberately being melodramatic, don't mind me)

What Math at its purest form is, is a set of rules. (I'll use examples from Geometry because that's my area lol) A mathematician will say "What if I assume that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line?" and they will come to the conclusion that they live on a planar surface. But if a mathematician says "What if I assume that the shortest distance between two points is not a straight line?" then what does the surface in question look like? A mathematician first decides on these (and other) fundamental rules and can then visualize a shape or an object...and then they investigate properties of that object. "Does my surface have any holes?" "How curvey is it?" It comes down to axioms: Things which are assumed true without proof determine what a mathematician is working with.

What changes in my universe of discourse (ie. 'world') when I add in this extra axiom? What if I removed this one? That's what mathematics is all about..."How much can I mess up my world?"

It's really easy to create a mathematical system in which "2 + 2 = 5" is a theorem, without a contradiction. This is perfectly valid...we just know that's not "real life." We've adopted a model which (we hope) describes "real life" the best we can.


So to summarize, when asked, "Why do we need someone to solve equations?" or "What does a mathematician DO anyway?" I starkly respond "Mathematicians create worlds...And then tell you about them."

All Mathematicians have done (with the advent of calculus for instance) is create a universe which they think closely resembles ours.



It pains me to say however, that not everyone is capable of math. Be it the tragic story of the students who work hard every day in essential-level highschool classes, but just can't see the pattern that 0 * anything = 0...or the math student who was in a car accident, lost part of their brain and could no longer do math, not everyone is capable.

However...every student taking the math is capable. If you weren't, you would not be considering university.

------------------

To jump back to Dillon's point: Math is only a series of steps at this stage. xD It's actually been proven mathematically that mathematics is not deterministic...which basically means we can never make a computer program that will discover math. It will always take human ingenuity, creativity.


------------------


EDIT: PS, I noticed Melissa has referenced Math 1B03...I've recently posted a review of Math 1B03, if anyone's interested:

http://www.macinsiders.com/showthread.php?t=2289 2

You're cool. XD When can we meet?

[huzaifa47]

Originally Posted by Mowicz

What changes in my universe of discourse (ie. 'world') when I add in this extra axiom? What if I removed this one? That's what mathematics is all about..."How much can I mess up my world?"

It's really easy to create a mathematical system in which "2 + 2 = 5" is a theorem, without a contradiction. This is perfectly valid...we just know that's not "real life." We've adopted a model which (we hope) describes "real life" the best we can.


So to summarize, when asked, "Why do we need someone to solve equations?" or "What does a mathematician DO anyway?" I starkly respond "Mathematicians create worlds...And then tell you about them."

All Mathematicians have done (with the advent of calculus for instance) is create a universe which they think closely resembles ours.

WOAH WOAH: A Parallel Dimenson-Universe

lol Mike you aren't getting farrr to carried away are you by any chance?

I know you LOVE Maths but You do realize scared little first year lambs reading this will probably commit suicide, In my opinion the best way to get people to "like" or "understand" math is to simplify simplify simplify. The need to look beyond the set of x's and y's and differentials that make no sense into something that is like a pattern....Like for them to be able to ignore the variables and just concentrate on the formula being used. I've tutored a few to various degrees of success :S

[Mowicz]

"The trick to forgetting the big picture is to look at everything close up." ~ Chuck Palahniuk

Now I know you're not condoning we neglect the big picture now, are you Huzaifa? :p

And I never said anything about parallel universes...I simply used the mathematical jargon "Universe of Discourse" (which is just a fancy way of saying "Everything that's true, given my assumptions")

---------------

In my experience, you don't get people to understand the concepts by ignoring the concepts and just teaching the basics...instead, you explain the concepts. Use general statements, nothing too specific, give examples, and guide the student through the difficult parts. Make them seem more attainable.

And certainly, the way to get people to like math, is by showing them the interesting stuff. None of this mundane 2 + x = 6 => x = 4 boring crap. :p

[Ownaginatios]

* Watches as Mowicz constructs a spaceship out of math, tears a hole in the universe and flys away to another universe where Pi equals exactly 3 *

[jhan523]

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

* Watches as Mowicz constructs a spaceship out of math, tears a hole in the universe and flys away to another universe where Pi equals exactly 3 *

Changing constants? Do you think that different universes have different laws? That would be pretty cool ^-^ But kind of confusing... because in order to travel between universes, wouldn't the laws have to be the same?