how hard is calculus?

[php111]

hi,

How hard is pre calculus through analytic geometry & Calculus 4? Analytic Geometry combined with calculus 1, 2 ,3 and 4? I am taking taking pre algebra at a community college but mathematics is my major and some time within the years i would need to take calculus.

[Jay-qu]

You want to do a maths major and seem worried about how hard calculus is?

Its not really a matter of how hard.. it depends on how much and how deep you get into it. Integration and differentiation are easy concepts and not to hard to perform - when you get to some ODE's and PDE's (ordinary and partial differential equations) in multiple dimensions, then we are starting to get hard. Here we take that stuff in 2nd year. But I guess it would be possible to do a math major without touching to much calculus, surly it cant be avoided entirely though.

[php111]

Originally Posted by Jay-qu

You want to do a maths major and seem worried about how hard calculus is?

Its not really a matter of how hard.. it depends on how much and how deep you get into it. Integration and differentiation are easy concepts and not to hard to perform - when you get to some ODE's and PDE's (ordinary and partial differential equations) in multiple dimensions, then we are starting to get hard. Here we take that stuff in 2nd year. But I guess it would be possible to do a math major without touching to much calculus, surly it cant be avoided entirely though.

Ok so calculus 1 is easy? and calculus 2 starts to get hard? What is required in part 3 and 4? What is required in Differential Equations with Linear Algebra?

[Rade]

Originally Posted by php111

Ok so calculus 1 is easy? and calculus 2 starts to get hard? What is required in part 3 and 4? What is required in Differential Equations with Linear Algebra?

I think what is required is that you do all the homework problems, then some more.

[freeztar]

Originally Posted by php111

Ok so calculus 1 is easy?

That depends...How is Pre-Calc working for you?

and calculus 2 starts to get hard?

Every step up will become more difficult intrinsically as it depends on prior knowledge.

What is required in part 3 and 4? What is required in Differential Equations with Linear Algebra?

These are great questions for the teachers (at your school) of those subjects. Show interest early and you will benefit.

[Jay-qu]

Originally Posted by php111

Ok so calculus 1 is easy? and calculus 2 starts to get hard? What is required in part 3 and 4? What is required in Differential Equations with Linear Algebra?

I cant really give you an answer to that question because its going to depend on the place you study - here in Australia we do things a bit different

[Shubee]

Originally Posted by php111

How hard is pre calculus through analytic geometry & Calculus 4?

I thought that calculus was just as easy as high school algebra. There are only a few fundamental theorems to learn (for elementary calculus) and the rest is just algebraic manipulation.

[Qfwfq]

Originally Posted by Shubee

...and the rest is just algebraic manipulation.

Hmmm, not quite, it's often a matter of finding a method. Unlike what Jay says, sometimes even finding the integral of a function, without looking it up, can be by no means trivial. Try for instance:



or even the Gaussian:

[Michaelangelica]

Too Hard.
And what is the point anyway?

[Jay-qu]

Originally Posted by Qfwfq

Hmmm, not quite, it's often a matter of finding a method. Unlike what Jay says, sometimes even finding the integral of a function, without looking it up, can be by no means trivial. Try for instance:



or even the Gaussian:

right you are Q, the concept of whats going of isnt to hard to understand, while actually doing it proves much harder and in the case of some integrations (and differentiations?) are impossible to perform analytically.