ANSWERS: 7
  • It's not hard when in the right state of mind. Regular mathematics focuses on many concrete formulas, while calculus deals with a lot of theory and relativity. Some people find it difficult to switch that mathematical gear.
  • Calculus is hard because it entails a step-by-step learning process. For example, you can't understand it if you aren't adept at algebra and geometry. You also can't understand integration if you don't know anything about differentiation.
  • Well differentiation is easy. You can do it by a few patterns: diff(A + B) is diff(A) + diff(B) diff(A * B) is diff(A)*B + A*diff(B) diff(e^A) is diff(A)*e^A etc. But INTEGRATION is a nightmare. Unless you've got an easy one you can't just look at the formula and say, yes I know how do that. You could spend days on it and never solve it. With a lot of work and some luck you may be able to use differential Galois-theory to show that it can or can't be solved. Examples: integrate(x^6) easy: x^7/7 + C integrate(6^x) almost as easy, its the same as integrate(e^(x*ln 6)) which is 6^x/(ln 6) + C but integrate(x^x) ?? Sorry, can't be done!!! The best you can do is write it in terms of other functions which themselves stand for integration. Then, it gets worse. Differential equations where you have to spend hours just to get an integration which you may be able to solve to give you the answer. Then there are numerical techniques to evaluate them, such as fourth order Runge-Kutta. Luckily at degree level, the actual math you get is always simple cases. It's the engineers and scientists who get the really difficult real-world stuff.
  • Basic calculus isn't. I think it is general fear of maths in general. I agree with Quirkie though, when I was at University (maths and physics) we had to do horrible things. 2nd order partial differential equations and so on with genuine physical situations oh yuck... And line integrals and oh I am getting faint just thinking about it all... Often taught badly though like most maths. I have heard it said that if we taught English the way we taught maths at school then 18 year olds would barely know the alphabet, have no idea how to form sentences and think poetry was a myth.
  • Calculus Is Hard Because In Latin, Calculus Means Stone. As To The Difficulty With The Mathematical Subject, It Really Is Not All That Bad.
  • First of all, Calculus is hard and the people who wrote that it wasn't probably don't really understand it. Calculus is hard because it is based upon deviding (for derivatives) or multiplying (for integrals) something by a undefined small number. I can multiply two numbers together for example 2*2 and get 4. What happens if I multiply 2*dx, where dx is a small number? In calculus you can ask how small is this number dx? Is it .000001, .0000000000001 etc..? The answer is that dx is infinitesimal small, it is smaller then any number you can tell me, BUT IT ISN'T O. When you study calculus, you study this idea. Most people go to class and learn how to solve the problems, but they don't really understand what is happening because the idea of infinitely small numbers is difficult to learn. So, most people who take calculus don't really understand it.
  • The thing about calculus that makes it difficult is the application to the real world. To real situations. For example, one of our professors told us that calculus is used in designing major constructions, with a lot of integration and differentiation. But the real world requires not only the knowledge of mathematics but as well as a hell lot of science.

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