I did well in math in high school but signed up for calculus 3 times in college and dropped it to take a course in a different major each time.

Kind of wish now I'd started the class at least once even if it adversely affected my GPA.

Good luck!

I'm 42, started taking classes beginning of 2018. A few remedial Algebra classes, Trig and then started Calc classes this year. Hope to finish my ME degree by the time I hit 50.

As interested as I am in this stuff it's tough to put 100% focus on it while maintaining a career, two kids as a single parent and everything else that goes with being a mature, responsible adult.

quote:

Originally posted by kx90:
Good luck!

I'm 42, started taking classes beginning of 2018. A few remedial Algebra classes, Trig and then started Calc classes this year. Hope to finish my ME degree by the time I hit 50.

As interested as I am in this stuff it's tough to put 100% focus on it while maintaining a career, two kids as a single parent and everything else that goes with being a mature, responsible adult.

Good luck to you KX. The wife and I are empty nesters now so there is no outside pressure on me. The career and kids will make your job much tougher than mine.

I would hire that out. Your time to relearn, and more importantly to be accurate, is going to be better spent in other areas I suspect.

quote:

Originally posted by henryaz:
 
I maintained a near 100 gpa in high school math.......my intention was to be a math major.
 

For some reason the incongruence from Henry below made me chuckle.

My calc prof was terrible and all the students really suffered in his class. I remember doing problems three times and coming up with a different answer each time - that was really frustrating. Had the same prof for linear algebra (a pre-req for a digital logic class) and struggled with that too. When I got to the digital logic class we had a really good professor and suddenly linear algebra was easy.


Best of luck to you - It's been 30 years and I'm not sure I'd want to tackle calculus again.

 
I maintained a near 100 gpa in high school math, including introductory calculus. Going to college, my intention was to be a math major. But I was placed in AP calculus. That whole plan went out the window after the first semester.
 

must beef up your algebra skills to be any good at calculus. it is all about manipulating each side of an equation.

there are a lot of great little tutorials on youtube that you can watch. check out Professor Leonard.

Calculus I, Calculus II, Differential Equations. The last required math course was (deceptively) titled Applied Mathematics. I should have noticed when the math majors dropped. The prof gave one A, one B, one C. The rest were D's and F's.

Khan is good. Another is patrickJMT on YouTube. I used those two almost exclusively as a learning aid the last two years for calc 1 and 2 along with Physics 1 and 2.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: DanPatWork,

quote:

Originally posted by 9mmepiphany:

quote:

Originally posted by Bytes:
Cool, good for her! Congrats dad.

Thanks, I'm still a bit in disbelief that they teach Calc in the 11th grade high school

This upcoming year, there will be a 9th grader in one of our calculus classes. Juniors and even sophomores are increasingly common in calc. 20 years ago when I was a senior, most of the kids in AP Calc were seniors, but there were still a handful of juniors.

Math education has really changed in the middle school level.

quote:

Originally posted by Oat_Action_Man:

quote:

Originally posted by 9mmepiphany:

quote:

Originally posted by Bytes:
Cool, good for her! Congrats dad.

Thanks, I'm still a bit in disbelief that they teach Calc in the 11th grade high school

This upcoming year, there will be a 9th grader in one of our calculus classes. Juniors and even sophomores are increasingly common in calc. 20 years ago when I was a senior, most of the kids in AP Calc were seniors, but there were still a handful of juniors.

Math education has really changed in the middle school level.

I had high school seniors in my calc, and physics classes that were double dipping the credits by getting their AP high school credits along with their college credits at the same time. Our calc classes included ITV distance learning to an entire classroom from down state. There is an increasing number of early enrollment by high school aged students in stem courses through our local community/junior college. These kids are getting a leg up on the competition, but from what I've seen most are still unprepared for their entry into the real world college experience when they get there.

quote:

Originally posted by Bytes:

quote:

Originally posted by kx90:
Good luck!

I'm 42, started taking classes beginning of 2018. A few remedial Algebra classes, Trig and then started Calc classes this year. Hope to finish my ME degree by the time I hit 50.

As interested as I am in this stuff it's tough to put 100% focus on it while maintaining a career, two kids as a single parent and everything else that goes with being a mature, responsible adult.

Good luck to you KX. The wife and I are empty nesters now so there is no outside pressure on me. The career and kids will make your job much tougher than mine.

Thanks! I know it's going to be a long, tough road but, it's something I really want to accomplish and it will help keep my careering moving in the right direction.

my first degree was applied mathematics

to do well in calculus you need to be comfortable with trig and also analytical geometry

a lot of calculus is looking at things in 3D, not just planes

so get comfortable with the equations for shapes like cones, spheres, truncated cones and spheres, spirals and helix shapes

most of those equations of shape lend themselves to the foundations of a lot of calculus equations

quote:

to do well in calculus you need to be comfortable with trig and also analytical geometry

a lot of calculus is looking at things in 3D, not just planes

so get comfortable with the equations for shapes like cones, spheres, truncated cones and spheres, spirals and helix shapes

most of those equations of shape lend themselves to the foundations of a lot of calculus equations

Agree 100%

I took Calc 1 and 2, Diff EQ, and linear algebra. Your basic algebra skills need to be practiced ad nauseam. I feel that being able to identify shapes by their corresponding equations and truly being able to visualize them in a 3D space is a plus.

My Algebra is pretty much up to speed. But after reading the last two or three posts I may take a short refresher course in it and Trig. It's not like either one will make me dumber Well, hopefully not.

I’m a math nerd. Did Calc in high school and exceled at it in college (one of my minors is Math).
My daughter is going to 11th grade and is allowed to take Calculus since she’s met all the prerequisites for it even though for them it’s normally a senior class.
She’ll ace it. I started teaching it to her a few years ago just to refresh myself.

Yeah. Asians and all that.

quote:

Originally posted by Chowser:
Yeah. Asians and all that.

Hell, Yeah...and we understand Common Core too

I had a teacher who once consulted with, IIRC a distillery--maybe a winery. They wanted a pole they could put in a big barrel-shaped vat that would tell them how much of the good stuff was in it.

This is a simple problem in calculus; they thought he was a genius for figuring it out.

So there is an example of a problem that would be appreciated by SF members.

there are several good calculus books that you can probably get out there on the black market (eBay) cheap

Calculus and Analytical Geometry - Earl W Swokowski

Differential Equations by Dennis Zill

Advanced Engineering Mathematics by Wylie and Barrett

Calculus and Analytic Geometry by Donald Trim

out of the above, I believe the best one to start with would be Trim, then Zill and then if you're still sane work through Swokowski

just remember....

its called calculus, but really everything is variations on multiplication and division with a few new rules tossed in

for a lot of excitement and when you're bored, you can always try tensor mathematics and LaPlace transforms