However, a person’s brain must forget what they had previously wired (or at least modify the wiring) into his brain to accommodate the new wiring. For me, calculus is completely rewiring my mind. It is showing me not only my mathematical faults but also my academic faults. Taking calculus has definitely impacted the way I view myself as a student.
One of the biggest effects that calculus has had on me, is the drop in my confidence. For me, academics have always been my strong suit. I have pretty much always been a straight A and occasional B student. Yet, if someone were to look at my current calculus grade, he would wonder how I even go to college in the first place. The first big confidence drop was getting a four out of ten on my first quiz. I had studied for it more than I would have for any other quiz.
The confidence drop in math has definitely impacted me across the board academically. When I got my first test score back I remember thinking, “This is it. I’m not cut out for computer science after all.” If I could not solve simple math problems, who am I to think I could go off and create programs that solve more complex problems? Despite doing well in my major courses, I began to doubt that I would even have the capacity to handle the tougher courses thrown
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I love the courses I am taking for my major too much to just quit. Because of this self-doubt, I have a newfound drive for doing well in calculus. Doing well has always been my goal for classes, however, this one is different. Beforehand, I was okay with getting decent grades and just skating by with a B, even though with a little bit more of effort I could have gotten an A. Calculus has definitely proved that my current mental wiring is not working as well as it needs to be. Realizing this, I have decided to change my habits; whether, that be attending office hours more often or scheduling a tutoring
Growing up, my parents never expected perfection but expected that I try to accomplish my best. The effort I’ve put forth in learning has been reflected in my grades throughout my high school career. I’ve entered myself in vigorous course work such as AP Government and AP English to become well prepared for my college career, all while maintaining a 4.4 grade point average this year. Not only do I engage in AP classes, but up until this year I had no study halls. I wanted my day to be packed full of interesting classes that I would enjoy learning about. My grades and choice of classes prove the effort that I put forth in my learning. Working hard now can only pay off in the future. Learning now creates a well-rounded human being. Working to learn is why I am so dedicated to my studies now.
Steinberg, J. R., Okun, M. A., & Aiken, L. S. (2012). Calculus GPA and math identification as
When looking at not just this class but all of my classes and looking at how I have been approaching them versus how I should approach them it definitely puts my mind in a different perspective because I am a person that “strives for excellence” and if I am able to “ace” a class then I definitely try and do that but a lot of the time that doesn’t mean sitting there and actually learning the information it means
Having taken a calculus class two years ago, I was introduced to topics which I either enjoyed or developed a deep hatred towards. From integration by parts to related rates, the one topic that I caught on to the be...
When I began high school I was taking a computer science class. The class presented many difficult concepts, some of which I grasped immediately. Others, such as the concept of object-oriented programming design, took me awhile longer to understand. When the concept was first explained to me during my first semester of computer science, I did not understand it at all. I thought to myself, “I have no idea how to use this, I don’t even know why it useful, oh well, I’ll just ignore it for now.” However, as I continued throughout the class, learning new classes and me...
Solving problems is a particular art, like swimming, or skiing, or playing the piano: you can learn it only by imitation and practice…if you wish to learn swimming you have to go in the water, and if you wish to become a problem solver you have to solve problems. -Mathematical Discovery
Ever wonder how scientists figure out how long it takes for the radiation from a nuclear weapon to decay? This dilemma can be solved by calculus, which helps determine the rate of decay of the radioactive material. Calculus can aid people in many everyday situations, such as deciding how much fencing is needed to encompass a designated area. Finding how gravity affects certain objects is how calculus aids people who study Physics. Mechanics find calculus useful to determine rates of flow of fluids in a car. Numerous developments in mathematics by Ancient Greeks to Europeans led to the discovery of integral calculus, which is still expanding. The first mathematicians came from Egypt, where they discovered the rule for the volume of a pyramid and approximation of the area of a circle. Later, Greeks made tremendous discoveries. Archimedes extended the method of inscribed and circumscribed figures by means of heuristic, which are rules that are specific to a given problem and can therefore help guide the search. These arguments involved parallel slices of figures and the laws of the lever, the idea of a surface as made up of lines. Finding areas and volumes of figures by using conic section (a circle, point, hyperbola, etc.) and weighing infinitely thin slices of figures, an idea used in integral calculus today was also a discovery of Archimedes. One of Archimedes's major crucial discoveries for integral calculus was a limit that allows the "slices" of a figure to be infinitely thin. Another Greek, Euclid, developed ideas supporting the theory of calculus, but the logic basis was not sustained since infinity and continuity weren't established yet (Boyer 47). His one mistake in finding a definite integral was that it is not found by the sums of an infinite number of points, lines, or surfaces but by the limit of an infinite sequence (Boyer 47). These early discoveries aided Newton and Leibniz in the development of calculus. In the 17th century, people from all over Europe made numerous mathematics discoveries in the integral calculus field. Johannes Kepler "anticipat(ed) results found… in the integral calculus" (Boyer 109) with his summations. For instance, in his Astronomia nova, he formed a summation similar to integral calculus dealing with sine and cosine. F. B. Cavalieri expanded on Johannes Kepler's work on measuring volumes. Also, he "investigate[d] areas under the curve" ("Calculus (mathematics)") with what he called "indivisible magnitudes.
I appreciate your interest in taking college-level Pre-Calculus. This course requires a higher level of dedication and effort than many other high school math courses. It can be stressful taking such a course, but I believe that you can succeed by following these tips: stay organized, read the textbook before class, take notes and pay attention in class, do MyMathLab assignments, and believe in yourself. Staying organized is a key component of being successful in any class at school. This includes keeping a copy of the syllabus, writing down the dates of tests and assignments on a planner, and bringing basic supplies to class.
This evaluation has not only allowed me explore calculus more in depth, but also physics, and the way the world works. This has personally allowed me to explore the connections between math and real-world situations, which is hard to find in textbooks.
It was not until a few years later, as a student in calculus, that I realized how much math I had learned from his classes.
I am proud that I was able to convince my high school principal to add a challenging Pre Ap calculus class to our curriculum. I felt this course would provide more opportunities to excel and to be prepared for
The tedious honors Calculus class that he taught just before lunch was not the highlight of his day. Not that he didn’t like the subject matter, math had always come easy to him, but attempting to convince a group of 11th grade students that the logic of derivatives was actually something that they needed to master in order to survive was another matter.
Math is probably one of the only subjects that I have really struggled my whole life or more accurately, all my years being in school. Math has been such trouble and really challenging because I cannot really remember mathematical formulas and problem solving methods. It is actually a real struggle when taking a math test or exam, especially a final exam. Trying to remember all those methods and formulas, it makes it hard to think and focus on finishing up all the problems on time. Even though I am often am
Living up to my resolution, I joined several clubs, both in and out of school and academic and recreational. I also met some of my very best friends in high school. Achieving all of this, friends, memberships to academic clubs and good grades, made up my first successful experience in high school. I was driven by the years in middle school and the promise that I made to myself at the end of eighth grade. Throughout my under classmen years I exceled in all subjects and thoroughly enjoyed the clubs I had joined. I think my downfall for the last two years of school was that I took for granted my good grades and as my classes got more rigorous I didn’t change the way I learned the material, but continued on the same path that I had been following my entire academic career, even when my grades were slipping slightly. Halfway through my senior year, I realized I needed to change the way I was learning the curriculum my instructors were teaching. I’ve always been the type of student to take good notes or listen to a lecture and understand everything the first time around, as was the case in elementary school and middle school. But my more rigorous classes proved to be a challenge for me and I did not know the proper way of learning the material on my own. I started by asking more questions in class and then going to my friends for help on subjects I didn’t understand. After many questions and after school tutor
In my previous studies, I have covered all the four branches of mathematics syllabus and this has made me to develop a strong interest in pure mathematics and most importantly, a very strong interest in calculus.