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Calculus Advice!

J

Jarret Stroud

Roller Poster
Tip for future Calculus students: study every weekend over that week’s topics. Overtime throughout a certain unit you will end up studying and practicing and getting better.


Also don’t forget to study the previous week’s topics as long as the new ones for a unit!


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Matt N

Matt N

CF Legend
Out of interest, does “calculus” mean something different in America?

Here in Britain, I’d have referred to calculus as an alternative name for differentiation, a unit of A Level Maths (which I did from age 16-18), but in American films and things, you often hear them talk about “calculus” as a subject by itself.

That is assuming that @Jarret Stroud is American, of course… I sincerely apologise if that particular assumption is wrong. I mainly made that assumption because of the way you talk about “calculus” as a whole subject of its own.
 
Hixee

Hixee

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Matt N said:
Out of interest, does “calculus” mean something different in America?
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"Calculus" is just the generic term for the mathematics of 'continuous change'. Differentiation is one part, but there's also it's counterpart integration, and they both have an insane amount of detail the further you push it. Understanding how things change is applicable to sooooo many different things that it's a key piece of core maths. Differentiation generally gets taught first (in the UK at least), as a) the maths is broadly more straightforward at an entry level and b) it's conceptually slightly easier to understand.

That said - it's a situation where I think the American's actually have the naming right.
 
JoshC.

JoshC.

Strata Poster
British maths teacher here...

Hixee is bang on with his description. In terms of how calculus is taught in the UK, it is chunked significantly. You'll be introduced to basic differentiation, then basic integration, then the level increases. Once you reach degree level (or high end A Level Further Maths), you learn about the mathematical principles behind calculus, which is a field of maths called "Analysis". The UK system will call it calculus.

America seems to teach maths slightly differently, in that they have specific classes for specific topics of maths (Calculus, Algebra, etc). So whereas in the UK, you will study maths (at say A Level) and do a little bit of everything, the near-equivalent in America would see you study specific topics.
 
Matt N

Matt N

CF Legend
Ah, that makes sense!

I did Maths to A Level (age 18, for those outside the UK), and I did differentiation and integration to (probably) quite a basic level. The highest I went with either was learning the differentiation/integration rules (such as the product rule and chain rule), as well as things like integration by parts (which I remember being absolutely horrifying!).

I always thought calculus was just another name for differentiation, as that was always the context it was referred to in by our maths teachers.
 
JackFish

JackFish

Mega Poster
Hyde said:
Tip for future Calculus students: don't.
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As a sophomore in high school, 10th grade or 15-16 year-olds for you Brits, ;) I can agree with Hyde. Don't do it, especially before your last year of high school or in college, and only if you're going into math and science or the S.T.E.M. field.
 
J

Jarret Stroud

Roller Poster
JackFish said:
As a sophomore in high school, 10th grade or 15-16 year-olds for you Brits, ;) I can agree with Hyde. Don't do it, especially before your last year of high school or in college, and only if you're going into math and science or the S.T.E.M. field.
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Actually I disagree. Calculus isn’t too bad if you know you’re algebra and trig. Also if you practice and study then Calculus is nowhere as bad. If you have an opportunity to do Calc do it for the experience. For high school students at least take AP Calculus AB.


Stats on the other hand maybe be more useful than Calc but it’s ten times worst in my opinion.


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Hyde

Hyde

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I took calculus in my hay-day of wanting to be a roller coaster engineer (like 2/3 of CoasterForce members), which set me up for a major in mechanical engineering... of which I lasted three quarters. 😅 Calculus proved to be a pretty hard road for my own mathematics, especially as statistics was not as big a "math" priority while I was in high school/undergraduate. Bummer, as when I ended up going to grad school for my masters, I had to take some statistics and economics in advance, and absolutely loved it! I especially appreciate that in statistics, the answer will always be in between 0 and 1, rather than an alphabet soup of equation. :p
 
JackFish

JackFish

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Hyde said:
I took calculus in my hay-day of wanting to be a roller coaster engineer (like 2/3 of CoasterForce members), which set me up for a major in mechanical engineering... of which I lasted three quarters. 😅 Calculus proved to be a pretty hard road for my own mathematics, especially as statistics was not as big a "math" priority while I was in high school/undergraduate. Bummer, as when I ended up going to grad school for my masters, I had to take some statistics and economics in advance, and absolutely loved it! I especially appreciate that in statistics, the answer will always be in between 0 and 1, rather than an alphabet soup of equation. :p
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Yep, my goal is to be a coaster engineer. I started college early, I'm still in high school but I'm enrolled in online classes at Standford and will get my masters in mechanical engineering and then pursue a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering with a minor in music. But I agree with Jarret in the fact that Calcaus is not that bad, I just took it really young and I´d advise against that.
 
J

Jarret Stroud

Roller Poster
Anyone have any tips for me for Calc II? I’m excited for it but a little bit nervous because Calc II has a reputation of being extremely hard! What’s the hardest topic of Calc II? Thanks!


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Hixee

Hixee

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Jarret Stroud said:
Anyone have any tips for me for Calc II? I’m excited for it but a little bit nervous because Calc II has a reputation of being extremely hard! What’s the hardest topic of Calc II? Thanks!
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Let it not be said that I don't like calculus, but we don't need two separate threads! :p

I've never studied the calculus modules as defined commonly by the American education system, AND it's very dependent on you as an individual, but from a quick Google it looks like the stuff on series was always the trickier topics in maths for me. I got on quite well with most of the differential/integral aspects, and once I'd got my head around polar coordinates, that seemed to flow relatively naturally with the rest of the maths I was learning.
 
J

Jarret Stroud

Roller Poster
I finally passed the darn Statistics class on my third try. This statistics class was an introduction to Statistics so no calculus was used but darn, it was harder than Calc 1. Passed it with a C which is an upgrade from an D


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Hixee

Hixee

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Jarret Stroud said:
I finally passed the darn Statistics class on my third try. This statistics class was an introduction to Statistics so no calculus was used but darn, it was harder than Calc 1. Passed it with a C which is an upgrade from an D


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Hi Jarret,

I appreciate that you're stoked for your results, etc, but we don't need a new thread for each module you take/pass! Please either keep it in this thread, or keep posts like this in the Post Happy Things Here thread: https://coasterforce.com/forums/threads/post-happy-things-here.13686/

This is the second time I've had to do this, please don't let it become a third. :)
 
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