2 ms·
> And calculus has nothing to do with pebbles or counting. So what? Coincidentally, in my native tongue, we regularly don't use "calculus" as a term for mathem
by jhgb 5y ago
> And calculus has nothing to do with pebbles or counting. So what?
Coincidentally, in my native tongue, we regularly don't use "calculus" as a term for mathematical analysis any more than we use "computer science" for informatics.
- kaba0 5y agoAs per Paul Halmos one can’t really write a good calculus book as taught in US schools, since there is no single subject corresponding to calculus. One needs to study series, (and other subjects I can’t really list now). I’m not sure which of his books I read it in..
- jhgb 5y agoI was thoroughly confused when I found out how the US high school math curriculum is structured. To this day I can't remember what the hell is "precalculus". In my country I had separate textbooks on: functions; equations and inequalities; sequences and series; planimetry; stereometry; goniometry; analytical geometry; combinatorics, statistics and probability; complex numbers; mathematical analysis. Every time I refresh my knowledge on what "precalculus" is I promptly forget it again because it doesn't correspond to any of the fields that we were taught and that I'm used to think in terms of.