Re: Why are TI Calcs so inferior?
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Nicholas P Konidaris Ii wrote:
>
> I'm not talking about using a calculator as a tool to solve engineering
> problems.
>
> I AM talking about learning an abstract language people call Calculus.
> Engineering is not Math, please do not confuse the two. My point is,
> schools rely too much on using a calculator to teach their students.
> Memorizing a method for solving problems is not teaching you math.
>
> Students need to learn Calculus, not how to take derivatives and integrals.
You obviously are not an Engineer, or you wouldn't have made such a
blatantly ignorant statement like "Engineering is not Math". How the
heck do you think engineers accomplish anything? After we (yes, I am
one, and rather good at it;) pull material properties from a handbook or
manufacturer's specs, are engineers supposed to wave a magic wand to
find the minimal thickness of a beam? Or is it read through chicken
guts?
What about project budgeting (granted, not calculus, but "Math")? How
do I manage to balance a checkbook?
I say to you, do not confuse APPLIED MATHEMATICS (i.e. Engineering) with
the Ivory Tower nonsense math teachers love. Very, very few real world
problems can be properly solved with the ground rules mathmeticians use
to make a problem tractable for analytical solutions. That does not
mean that engineers can ignore the "theoretical" aspects of math, any
more than they can ignore any other aspect of design or problem
solution.
Though I agree that too much of a calc can be bad in a learning
environment, I do think that "Students need to learn Calculus, not how
to take derivatives and integrals" is a bit hard to follow. Do you mean
that a) They need to learn to take integrals and derivatives by hand,
not apply a routine to a calculator, or b) they need to learn Calculus
EXCEPT for how to do integrals and derivatives? I think that would
basically leave limits.
But then again, I'm only an Engineer>;)
<pre>
--
Mark Wilson
"That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange eons even death may die."
"I'm an Engineer, don't mess with me.."
</pre>
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