The case for ending calculus requirements for science majors
1–10 of 142 posts
Re: The case for ending calculus requirements for science majors
#2Maybe for biology, especially for the bio majors who are pre-med, but probably not for chemistry, and certainly not for physics, whose laws are expressed in terms of calculus. Force equals mass times acceleration, and acceleration is the second derivative of position wrt time.
Re: The case for ending calculus requirements for science majors
#3Maybe for biology, especially for the bio majors who are pre-med, but probably not for chemistry, and certainly not for physics, whose laws are expressed in terms of calculus. Force equals mass times acceleration, and acceleration is the second derivative of position wrt time.
Doesn't Biology require calculus to express, for example, rates of reproduction? R_0 comes to mind[0].
[0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_reproduction_number
Re: The case for ending calculus requirements for science majors
#4Maybe for biology, especially for the bio majors who are pre-med, but probably not for chemistry, and certainly not for physics, whose laws are expressed in terms of calculus. Force equals mass times acceleration, and acceleration is the second derivative of position wrt time.
Doesn't Biology require calculus to express, for example, rates of reproduction? R_0 comes to mind[0]. [0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_reproduction_number
Physical chemistry, physical organic chemistry, physics... These things need far more than basic calc. I also think that basic algebra is something that people can use in daily life. Not quadratic equation in the like, but determining things like unit prices, handling interest, etc. Simple things that take a little more than a calculator. And I recall needing variables when doing statistics - isn't that algebra?
And it's real hard to program a whole lot of stuff on a computer w/o algebra.
Re: The case for ending calculus requirements for science majors
#5I vaguely remember the treatment of statistics in my high school/college science classes where calculus wasn't used. It was confusing and tedious. They have you memorize quantiles of the normal distribution so you can answer questions referring to the central limit theorem without ever understanding it, because it is not really possible to understand it without understanding integration. Combined with the fact of the general incompetence of people designing high school curricula, I'm fairly convinced that statistics sans calculus as a mandatory requirement would be a waste of time, joke of a class that would the average kid hate math even more than they do today.
Re: The case for ending calculus requirements for science majors
#6Please, no.
Re: The case for ending calculus requirements for science majors
#7Yet another article promoting a knowledge gap between the rich and the poor. rolls eyes
Re: The case for ending calculus requirements for science majors
#8"This student had lost four credits’ worth of tuition money, in return for nothing but a lower GPA"
Haha, that's what it means when you fail these days.
"lost"
Wow
Re: The case for ending calculus requirements for science majors
#9"This student had lost four credits’ worth of tuition money, in return for nothing but a lower GPA" Haha, that's what it means when you fail these days. " lost " Wow
apparently, because his GPA, he can't find any job and the only thing can d is waiting for starve and die.
Re: The case for ending calculus requirements for science majors
#10Wait until someone points out to the author that statistics heavily relies on calculus...