Calculus is the heart of applied mathematics, but US students aren’t prepared for it

American Thinker ^ | 11 Feb, 2025 | Molly Slag

[shotgun]

Exactly. All applied mathematical equations were derived from Calculus.

Engineering Physics is considered a culling class, to weed out the non-hackers.

When I got my AA in Engineering Technology, we had to take a year of applied physics (algebra based). When I decided to go get my BSCE, I had to take a year of Engineering physics (calculus based).

I got straight A’s in applied physics.

On the first night of my Engineering physics, our Physics Professor ask how many students were going to become theoretical physicists. No one raised their hand. So, he taught the whole course using algebra because he didn’t believe in culling students for the sake of culling them regardless of the position of the college to weed out students.

I got straight A’s that year too!

[Huskrrrr]

It was required for my Chem major. Got through it, forgot it. Went into Organic Chemistry in grad school. Very little math required.

[MtnClimber]

I was an Electrical Engineering major and went into the satellite development industry. There was much calculus in the orbital mechanics part of the job.

[Ezekiel]

This isn't very long, all considering.

René Descartes had seen light separated into the colors of the rainbow by glass or water

And over on the martial law thread:

It's amazing where the Yiddish Zehr [זייער] leads, etymologically and numerically, seeing from what I've already collected over time, but I suspect that people wish I would skedaddle already. 🏃‍♀️. . . .

(Yeah, but I always find the best stuff!)

It's all integrated; e.g.

light [אור ohr] + water [מים mayim]* = 207 + 90 = 297 =

זייער • (zeyer) very

=

אוצר

Yiddish

Etymology
From Hebrew אוֹצָר (otsár).

Noun
אוצר • (oytser) m, plural אוצרות (oytsres)

treasure (collection of valuables)

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D7%90%D7%95%D7%A6%D7%A8

Right, because where to find a pearl of great price? Along the Freedom Trail that I'd described earlier:

Union Oyster House (note the street names superimposed on the street view, because nothing is random about the "random trailheads", especially in The Hub)

Address: 41 Union St, Boston, MA 02108

* light + water: ohr begins with an alef and mayim begins with a mem. This is an important pairing in the "mystical" commentaries concerning Redeemers. אם spells em, the Latin letter/Roman Numeral "M", em "mother", and im, "if". Sum = 41.

Freedom Trail:

“Im” is spelled aleph mem. The Mincha Belulah (16th century) teaches that in liberation, there was an im – an if. The name Aaron begins with an aleph and Moses with a mem. So too with Purim: Esther begins with an aleph and Mordecai with a mem. Finally, Eliyahu, the herald of the end times, begins with an aleph and Moshiach, the Messiah, begins with a mem. The aleph and mem of im carry within them past and future redemption.

“If” contains all of life’s regrets. But even more, im is a word of possibility. God says, “IF you walk in My ways.” We hold the im in our own hands.

One of the best loved poems in the English language was written by Rudyard Kipling for his son. It is called, “If.”

https://www.sinaitemple.org/learn/rabbi-wolpe-adl-impressions/bechukotai-the-magic-of-if/

[Labyrinthos]

“A principal source of the demanding nature of the STEM curriculum is its solid mathematical core, the centerpiece of which is calculus, a cause of both delight and frustration for generations of college students.”

Some of us took calculus in high school.

[MtnClimber]

I took Calculus, Physics and Chemistry in High School.

[Huskrrrr]

You guys are amazing, I can imagine how much calculus you use daily. I struggled with calculus, then left it to the really smart guys.

[goo goo g'joob]

Right now, I’d teach without asking for pay.

until you had to -

prepare lesson plans a week in advance

submit grades daily

prepare alternative tests, give extra credit, notify parents, etc. prior to giving a failing grade

I could go on...

[GingisK]

I taught an Embedded Computing class in high school for three years. I certainly did all of those things. I also saved all of that material.

I taught under a provisional certificate that was valid for three years. Continuing was contingent upon progress toward a regular certificate. The workload you mentioned, having only one class each day and the creeping crud of administration made that effort seem undesirable.

When I left, a county official told me that I broke three state records:

As the oldest teacher currently employed in the state
As the only person to have ever completed all three years of a provisional certificate
As the only teacher in the state with perfect attendance over a three year period

The class and the students were very enjoyable. Many students told that my class was the best subject they ever had in high school. Several told that my class solidified their career choice as computer engineering. Nine of them went to Georgia Tech, two to MIT, and one to Berkley. The school and the county backed me 100% and put anything for which I asked into my lab.

I would do if free if I could avoid that certification crap.

[GingisK]

I also had six weeks training at the county office prior to the class starting in the fall. That is how I learned to cope with that paperwork jungle. Throughout those three years I continued with state and county classes and took a number of tests on that material. I know through direct experience about those things to which you referred.

Would you like me to tell you what you would have to do in order to hold my job in the R & D and instrumentation industry? Would you like to know how to certify medical instrumentation or rocket test range security systems?

[Don@VB]

>>36.74 Minutes<<

Thanks, mjp. My neighbor is going to be expecting an answer!!

[Some Fat Guy in L.A.]

I remember my early Calculus days in college early 80s. My problem was I could do the math, but I never really understood what it meant.

I was fortunate in having a calculus teacher in high school that explained it. Once I got it into my head that calculus is math in motion, I had an easier time with it.

[dfwgator]

One of my big regrets was not taking math more seriously in school, I got decent grades, but I did just enough to get by.

[ReagansShinyHair]

Homeschooling doesn’t mean that the parent is teaching everything themselves. A lot of us have our children take classes from other people who are experts (self-paced or life, with videos, remote grading, etc.). This is why my children speak a language that I do not speak, for example. They know a lot about a lot of things that I don’t know much about. All education is self-taught, in the end. It’s just a matter of finding the information, and nowadays, with the internet, the information is readily available. It used to be a more cumbersome process.

I only have one child old enough to take calculus, but he’s a senior in high school and taking AP calculus in a class taught by a college professor who seems remarkably thorough in finding and addressing weaknesses in his daily homework assignments. He can’t take the AP class due to being homeschooled, but it’s still an AP-level class. The professor even has online office hours where he provides help a couple of times a week. My son is doing very well even though he has never taken an actual “math class” before (we have only done video lesson classes in the past), and never took a real “math test” until he took the SAT (scored a 760 in math, by the way, and his only prep was the practice book). I gave him math assessments, but if he didn’t get an A, I had him revisit concepts until he could pass an assessment with an A, so it’s not really the same as a “math class” taught at a rigid pace with rigid grading.

I could probably wrestle through calculus with him myself using video-based lessons, YouTube, and the free math hotline that a university offers in our state, but the frustration isn’t worth it to me at this level, so I paid for the class.

I was not strong in math, which I attribute to poor public school teaching. At one point my entire Algebra class was told that we were too stupid to understand any of it, so we just needed to calculate and not think about it. That sums up public school math class for me. Once I got to college, I got the “smartest kid in class” to study with me and learned that I’m actually quite capable in math. I’d just had horrible math teachers all the way through public school. I would have been far better off if they’d just given me the book, the teacher’s manual, and left me alone all year.

[Night Hides Not]

I remember my early Calculus days in college early 80s. My problem was I could do the math, but I never really understood what it meant.

I had calculus my senior year of high school. I don't recall understanding one thing about it.

[GingisK]

Thank you for that insightful reply. You helped a lot.

[central_va]

It is widely recognized among today’s undergraduates that the STEM field is at once among the most rewarding and the most challenging, promising well-compensated employment in the future while also demanding devotion and consistent concentration in the present.

This is a LIE.

The fact is these jobs are filled mostly by H-1B imported indentured servants. US STEM grads are not hired first, they are hired last. Especially if you are both white and male.