Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Why Jared and Brittany will never be good at math.1
Posted by: Gary Ernest Davis on: September 15, 2013
Jared “simplified” in algebra class. His math teacher asked how he got that. “Easy!” said Jared. “Just cancel the x’s.” Jared was pretty sure he was becoming skilled at canceling. “But what if you put into ?” the teacher asked Jared. “The result would be 2, not 1.” Brittany jumped into the conversation: “You can’t do […]
When is an integral not an integral?
Posted by: Gary Ernest Davis on: September 14, 2013
No surprise to anyone really that students get confused by the difference between definite and indefinite integrals. The so-called indefinite integral is not really an integral at all, not in the sense of area: it’s the solution set to a differential equation. It’s not even usually a single function at all, but a whole family […]
