The Cellar  

Go Back   The Cellar > Main > Nothingland

Nothingland Something about nothing - game threads, diversions, time-wasters

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 05-07-2007, 09:56 AM   #1
freshnesschronic
Professor
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 1,555
Angry I hate...

.......calculus. I wish it would die and take its integrals, antiderivatives, exponential growth and all that math shit and bite it. It is fucking up my grades in school. Maybe my high school teachers taught math better, maybe my college TA can't teach for shit but I loathe calculus. Got a 57 and 54 on my first 2 exams, tomorrow is my final exam. In high school I got As in every math class, this is so new to me, fucking up mathematics. I hope I can pass the class, but fuck what are the chances.
Fuck you, calculus.
freshnesschronic is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-07-2007, 11:02 AM   #2
Trilby
Slattern of the Swail
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 15,654
Seconded. Though, to be honest, I've never made it that far. I'm imaging the torture calculus must be relative to the torture fairly simple mathematics poses for me personally.

Who says Newton was so great, huh? Damn his brilliant hide!
__________________
In Barrie's play and novel, the roles of fairies are brief: they are allies to the Lost Boys, the source of fairy dust and ...They are portrayed as dangerous, whimsical and extremely clever but quite hedonistic.

"Shall I give you a kiss?" Peter asked and, jerking an acorn button off his coat, solemnly presented it to her.
—James Barrie


Wimminfolk they be tricksy. - ZenGum
Trilby is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-07-2007, 11:04 AM   #3
Trilby
Slattern of the Swail
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 15,654
Also, I'm taking a Philosophy of Physical Science test at 1:3 today. Got a 76% on my first one which pissed me off. You would think a class that talks about the Universe would be fun, but NOooooooooooooooooooooooooo. It's pure hell.

I feel for you, dude. Hang in there. Think of Einstein!
__________________
In Barrie's play and novel, the roles of fairies are brief: they are allies to the Lost Boys, the source of fairy dust and ...They are portrayed as dangerous, whimsical and extremely clever but quite hedonistic.

"Shall I give you a kiss?" Peter asked and, jerking an acorn button off his coat, solemnly presented it to her.
—James Barrie


Wimminfolk they be tricksy. - ZenGum
Trilby is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-07-2007, 11:17 AM   #4
Happy Monkey
I think this line's mostly filler.
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: DC
Posts: 13,575
Heh, I liked calculus, but I still do basic arithmetic by counting in my head.
__________________
_________________
|...............| We live in the nick of times.
| Len 17, Wid 3 |
|_______________| [pics]
Happy Monkey is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-07-2007, 12:02 PM   #5
Hyoi
Faithful Companion
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 188
Which text are you using, fresh? Thomas?

Can you be a bit more specific as to what's bothering you?
__________________
When you stop trying to make sense of it all, it all begins to make sense.
Hyoi is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-07-2007, 12:38 PM   #6
bluecuracao
in a mood, not cupcake
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Philadelphia
Posts: 3,034
I hated calculus too. I had to work with a tutor to get through it, but it helped a lot.
bluecuracao is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-07-2007, 12:40 PM   #7
Perry Winkle
Esnohplad Semaj Ton
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: A little south of sanity
Posts: 2,259
I hated all the math I had until calculus. Calculus, I loved that shit. Discrete math is pretty good too.
Perry Winkle is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-07-2007, 12:49 PM   #8
monster
I hear them call the tide
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Perpetual Chaos
Posts: 30,852
This is why Calculus should be taught in high schools. Some find it a very natural thing, but for those who don't it can be practically opaque and the high school classroom is by far the best place to get the more personalized attention you need for subjects of this sort.
__________________
The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity Amelia Earhart
monster is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-07-2007, 01:05 PM   #9
bluecuracao
in a mood, not cupcake
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Philadelphia
Posts: 3,034
I don't know if that helps necessarily...I took calculus in high school, but I don't feel like our class was offered much personal attention, unfortunately. Our teacher knew his stuff in front of the group, but he wasn't very good with the one-on-one thing.
bluecuracao is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-07-2007, 01:25 PM   #10
freshnesschronic
Professor
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 1,555
I don't use a book. We use this program called Mathematica (I never want to hear it's name again) which has files and tutorials in it that teaches us. It is like a language such as BASIC but for math. Every other week there is one day dedicated to the TA lecturing about what we should have taught ourselves for the last week and a half. The rest of the days (its 50 minutes every day) we spend sitting in the computer lab learning this shit on our own and making programs utilizing the calculus we are learning. I hate it, because I can't teach myself this stuff, I have no idea where this shit is derived from.

The general consensus at the University of Illinois is that math is WAYYYYY too hard, my brother's friend who is a Civil Engineer (need math for that?) took Calculus 2 at U of I and got a C. He decided to take the rest of his math courses at our community college back home, because well, U of I sucks at teaching math.

And it's too late for me to tell you my math problems, the exam is tomorrow. But then calculus will be out of my life forever. JUST LIKE CHEMISTRY!!!

Thanks for the support too.
freshnesschronic is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-07-2007, 01:33 PM   #11
glatt
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Arlington, VA
Posts: 27,717
I took AP Calculus in high school, but didn't take the test to try to get the credits and skip it in college. That was a bonehead move. Mostly I was afraid I would fail the test because I got Cs in it during the year, and didn't have a strong understanding of it.

So I took it a second time in college my Freshman year. I had overconfidence, since I had passed it in high school, so I didn't do the homework. Almost failed that class. The prof gave me a D for the course, and it was totally a gift that she passed me.

I understood a lot of the concepts, but had a hard time doing the equations and problems. It was hard. I should have done the homework and studied in college.
glatt is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-07-2007, 01:40 PM   #12
monster
I hear them call the tide
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Perpetual Chaos
Posts: 30,852
That sounds like an awful style of teaching, fresh
__________________
The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity Amelia Earhart
monster is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-07-2007, 01:40 PM   #13
Happy Monkey
I think this line's mostly filler.
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: DC
Posts: 13,575
I got a 5 on the Calc BC exam, but had too little confidence, and only took college credit for AB.

Big mistake. Retaking the BC stuff was t... e... d... i... o... u... s...



And yes, that Mathematica-based course sounds awful. Mathematica is great, but it's a calculator, not a teacher.
__________________
_________________
|...............| We live in the nick of times.
| Len 17, Wid 3 |
|_______________| [pics]
Happy Monkey is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-07-2007, 06:30 PM   #14
LadyM
Lurker, still in Denial
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: I am Jack's smirking revenge.
Posts: 21
Ugh. Math.

Personally, my brain shut down before I ever got to calculus. The only practical math I learned was T minus forty-five minutes and counting . . .
__________________
"That's the difference between me and the rest of the world! Happiness isn't good enough for me! I demand euphoria!" -Calvin

Kitten: I made you a cookie . . . but I eated it.
LadyM is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-07-2007, 07:40 PM   #15
Perry Winkle
Esnohplad Semaj Ton
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: A little south of sanity
Posts: 2,259
The drawing pictures part of calculus is what made the concepts stick in my head. After a while I started looking at curves in real life in a much different way. I can't imagine trying to learn calculus by writing programs. However calculus improved my programming skills...
Perry Winkle is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 09:11 PM.


Powered by: vBulletin Version 3.8.1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.