Wednesday, December 7, 2011

CALCULUS

Dear Little Chick . . .  and Anyone Else Who Has Suffered from the Calculus Blues,

Little Chick, I know you hated your calculus class, and we're so proud of you for earning an "A"  in spite of it being, you know, calculus.

 Photo: Little Chick kisses the Jolly Ginger Giant.

I was talking to Someone I Love about how you made it through the class, Little Chick, and I felt rather surprised when she said, I hate calculus. It's just another hoop colleges make students jump through so they can weed out pre-med students.

She went on to say that there is a movement afoot to replace calculus in the core curriculum with a statistics and probability class. SIL also said she only does calculus when she has to teach it, and she does the problems slowly because she doesn't really remember calculus. She takes her time as part of a pretense that she's helping the students keep up and understand the class.

SIL finished by saying, Calculus is a sordid business. Be sure to tell Little Chick I said calculus is a sordid business.

There you have it, Little Chick. Calculus is a sordid business.

Infinities of love,

Lola

20 comments:

  1. Monster Kudos to Little Chick! Beyond basic algebra, I fear and respect math, preferably from a distance.

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  2. Math joke time? Okay:

    Q: What is the first derivative of a cow?
    A: Prime Rib!

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  3. haha I could do it all at one point, now though who knows. Once you get out in the real world, they have programs and calculators for that stuff. Still made university life easier for me knowing it.

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  4. I'm with SIL! Calculus sucks!

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  5. I never took calculus. Loved algebra! And freaking out because I know they teach it differently now to kids. I'm gonna have to learn the New Math.
    Joshua's joke was the best!
    Love,
    Steph

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  6. I don't like math in general, but luckily I never even had to try Calculus. In high school I almost tried Trig but I dropped it after a week or so because it seemed too hard (I didn't need it for graduation anyway). English/ history/ all that stuff has always been more my thing.

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  7. I agree with Melnda. Calculus sucks! Math, in general, sucks! My husband is a lawyer & accountant & I could never understand why he finds math interesting. When he talks to me about taxes I zone out. Come to think about it, I zone out a lot of other times, too. That MAY be the secret of our long marriage.

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  8. I loved calculus when I took it. Differential equations, too.

    I think I've forgotten most all of it now, though. Not something I've used in my career as a lawyer...

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  9. Here is a link to a video about Hitler trying to do calculus. You and SIL and Little Chick might enjoy it:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v-SyD4p8_y8Kw

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  10. Oh, math. Hate math. I was so terrified of Calculus because I wasn't much of a math mind. But, I liked Calculus...hated Geometry. So backwards, I know. Everyone LOVED Geometry, but I found it the hardest thing for me to comprehend. Have no idea why I took to Calculus. My dad thinks my brain makes easy things tough and hard things easy. lol

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  11. This is great. Little Chick makes a Mama Chick proud!!

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  12. Good for Little Chick! I never made it past Algebra II. Needless to say, I was useless when my kids needed help with their math homework.

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  13. Q: What is the difference between a Ph.D. in mathematics and a large pizza?
    A: A large pizza can feed a family of four...

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  14. Learning Math was Important. Well at least until the invention of the calculator.

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  15. What is a sum anyway?

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  16. As long as people are telling math jokes, I might as well throw mine in, too"

    A business is looking to hire an accountant. Three men show up for an interview. They're ushered in, one at a time, & the boss asks each of them the same question. "How much is 2 plus 2?" The first guy says, "4" & the boss says, "Thank you. Goodbye." Same thing with the second. The third guy asks, "How much do you want it to be?" HE GOT THE JOB!

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  17. I was a calculous tutor in college.

    Oh, how sorted and messy it got. :)

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  18. Calculus for me would have been evil. Algebra and Geometry were sordid enough for me.

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  19. And here I though Calculus was one of the thorny bushes in the desert.

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  20. I love your math jokes, but My 2 Pesos, I'm happy to be able to say your joke isn't true. Mathematician is one of the best jobs in the country.

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