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So.. calculus..
- Thread starter Drrrrrr. Celty
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It's like any other class: pay attention and study. It's not rocket science just because it's math.
math is easy A yo.
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Want to trade brains? Hahaha
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I guess, its just the last time I took higher level mathematics was pre-calc ( barely managed a B; albeit I didn't really try with all my might) in high school and since I doubt the only other form of math I'm good at ( college level statistics )is anywhere as hard.. I'm basically left after high school mathematics thinking its basically something I can't manage.
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I built up a little math anxiety myself from HS. I was convinced that I just couldn't do it for some reason, when the truth is I wasn't even trying. Took calc I and II in college and aced them. Chances are you know what to do and how to do it better now than you did in HS.
Calc really isn't that bad. You essentially do the same two things over and over in different ways 95% of the time. Just go to class, ask questions if necessary, keep up with the homework and reading, and do as many practice problems as you have time for.
Calc really isn't that bad. You essentially do the same two things over and over in different ways 95% of the time. Just go to class, ask questions if necessary, keep up with the homework and reading, and do as many practice problems as you have time for.
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Well that boosted my confidence a little bit.
ur gonna fail, muahahahahahhaahah.
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😀 I don't have conflict resolution skills. As such I use this post as something to fighttttt and overcome!!!
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Most math courses are so weird..they have a really steep curve
you just stare at a problem for a day go to bed wake up and boom you just figured out that poker problem from combinatorics class that your TA tried to explain to the entire class 5 times !!
But calc I and II are the easiest math courses you can take in college...
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lol You have apparently never taken college algebra. We learned how to use our calculators for the first week. 🙄
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calculus is fun, it literally changes how one looks at certain things... nonlinear and infinitesimal things become more intuitive... If you can complete the calc series, it's fun... FYI, Calc 2 tends to be more mechanical (brute force-ish..) but it's doable...
Oh do tons of practice though, math is like learning a foreign language in that it requires consistent practice...
Best of luck...
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Math major here. I've TA'ed for Calc I, II & III and here is my advice to all the bio majors: man up.
I say that only half-jokingly. The bio majors spend nights upon nights studying biochem, but don't spend half that time doing problems in Calculus. In introductory math courses, all you need to do is do hundreds of problems and you can get an A. There is no magic, and there is very little creativity - you won't be doing hard proofs.
It is very very important to pay attention for the first half of the semester. That gives you the background, e.g, what is a limit or a derivative and how and why it's important and how and why you find it the way you do. The rest of the course is just learning techniques and methods, which you could probably pick up in three days. But pay attention initially and learn the theory behind it.
You'll be fine. Good luck, and have fun. Once people shed the intimidation factor that comes with math, it's an amazing major with amazing students. And I find (personally) it more fun than learning the molecule structure of the 7th step of the Kreb's cycle.
I say that only half-jokingly. The bio majors spend nights upon nights studying biochem, but don't spend half that time doing problems in Calculus. In introductory math courses, all you need to do is do hundreds of problems and you can get an A. There is no magic, and there is very little creativity - you won't be doing hard proofs.
It is very very important to pay attention for the first half of the semester. That gives you the background, e.g, what is a limit or a derivative and how and why it's important and how and why you find it the way you do. The rest of the course is just learning techniques and methods, which you could probably pick up in three days. But pay attention initially and learn the theory behind it.
You'll be fine. Good luck, and have fun. Once people shed the intimidation factor that comes with math, it's an amazing major with amazing students. And I find (personally) it more fun than learning the molecule structure of the 7th step of the Kreb's cycle.
Hey, I just wanted to pop in and give you my little success story, because if I could do it I know you could too!! I have always been really god awful at math...in 7th grade when I moved to a new school in the middle of the year, and the principal asked if I wanted to be in honors or regular math my dad jumped in really quickly and said "regular, she's definitely not a math person" (I was ready for the challenge and would have said honors, but whatever...). That experience really made me believe that I could not do math at all and my grades showed it...I got my first C ever in Algebra II...and I was NOT happy about it, but it just reaffirmed what everyone else thought...I was math impaired. Algebra II was the highest math class I had to take in high school, and at the time I wanted to do theatre in college, so I was ecstatic to not ever have to take a math class again. Whoops, wrong. After 2 years I decided to be a doctor. So I sign up for Pre-Cal (after taking a math placement test and testing into college algebra, but going to the math department and pleading not to have to take it with all my might...I had audited the class before I transferred schools to get my feet wet and didn't want to do it again...). I struggled really hard for a B in that class...I just couldn't get it, and I was also pretty math rusty from not having taken it in so long (except for the audited course). So when it came time to take calculus I was terrified. However, I managed to get THE most amazing teacher in the history of calculus I think. I told her I was super scared, and she worked with me all the time, and I also got a tutor, which really helped. Turns out I am not math impaired at all...I just needed someone to sit down with me one on one and answer questions for me as they arose when I worked through problems. I ended up with a 98 in the class. SO, moral of the story....utilize your resources. Go to the teacher and sit down one on one, or get a tutor. It helped SOOO much for me, and helped me actually conquer my semi-irrational fear of mathematics. If I can do it, so can you!!!
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Though I'm not a biology major. I'll take your advice lol.
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Keep working the HW problems until your eyes bleed.
Try to persuade the professor to give students back exams as study aids.
Go to every class and sit in the front row.
Skim the upcoming chapter one day, read the chapter the next day, read it again several hours later, then skim it like 2 days later.
You will get an A.
Good luck, buddy boy.
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Reading chapters in math books, believe it or not, is more important than in bio books. The theory will help you solve 99% of the problems, especially as you start to see patterns (more important in calc II and integration). You will not understand the chapter the first time. It's ok. Go through it with paper and pencil and take your time with it until you get it.
Calculus is easier than O-Chem and you will have to endure it. So, don't worry -- just like wiht the dreaded O-Chem, concpets at the beginning of the course will carry you through the rest (and there is no memorization stuff required for organic chemistry).
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that's cause you're asian.
Fu$% yea. asian pride.
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anti derivative/chain rule will suck something awful and will most likely cause at least one kid in your class to say Eff this and walk out of the final without answering a question.
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Meh, I like algebra. But I guess there's a intimidating association with the course. It's just I'd rather not study a subject a man created when he was living in his uncles house away from society during one of the English Plagues. I am not ONCE!!!
I am mentally challanged when it comes to math, but when I took Calculus it made a lot of sense compared to other math classes. You get to derive formulas for velocity, acceleration, distance, calculate roots without calculator...stuff you can use in other classes like chemistry and physcis. What helped me was using flash cards, and lots of them because there will be lots of laws and theorem memorization.
Good luck
PS
you can safely forget everything you learned in precalc, the only thing you will need is trigonometry and algebra.
Good luck
PS
you can safely forget everything you learned in precalc, the only thing you will need is trigonometry and algebra.
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Just a heads-up, I had a pretty ****ty algebra and trig background when I started calc, and it didn't really hurt me. My class spent the first week or so reviewing all of the important alg/trig concepts, and I crammed that week for a pre-test that determined if you can move on in the class, and that gave me a good enough foundation that I wasn't lost.
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Well Newton was a G. Leibniz is a dirty rotten math stealer.
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That includes pretty much all of 1st semester physics too...
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While it is true that Leibniz would have gotten the credit in modern times since he published first, there is no evidence that Newton stole calculus. In fact, if you look at each's manuscript, they both make mistakes and shortcuts that make it clear that they were independent achievements.
Hell, Archimedes was a hair's width away from discovering caclulus thousands of years prior to either. If he just had the Arabic number system within his grasp, most people agree that he would have hit upon it then.
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The hardest part of calc I is algebra. Seriously. Word problems aren't too bad -- all you have to do is set up a formula and determine what's changing.
The hardest part of calc II (for me) are series. Determining con/divergence isn't hard but remembering all of the tests and applying them is really confusing.
I'm registered to take calc III this fall but I'm going to drop it. I'd like to take it because 3d calculus sounds fun but I don't have the time to take it and biochem majors don't need it to graduate.
For what it's worth, the difficulty in the calculus sequence is supposed to be 2, 3, 1.
The hardest part of calc II (for me) are series. Determining con/divergence isn't hard but remembering all of the tests and applying them is really confusing.
I'm registered to take calc III this fall but I'm going to drop it. I'd like to take it because 3d calculus sounds fun but I don't have the time to take it and biochem majors don't need it to graduate.
For what it's worth, the difficulty in the calculus sequence is supposed to be 2, 3, 1.
Cal I wasn't that hard. Cal II is a lot harder. Tbh precal was harder than Cal I because of all the abstract concepts, which I wasn't used to.
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There was a thread about this earlier buy a cramster account or your book's solutions manual. Seriously. It's basically a 24 hour tutor.
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Know your algebra and trig as well as you can. Most of the time, when I made a mistake, it wasn't due to not understanding the calculus part of the problem, it was that I forgot some trig identity or algebraic rule I hadn't seen in several years.
