<p>Ok, so im sorry i know this shouldnt be a "vent" forum, but i can't help it. Any administrator can delete this when they like. </p>
<p>Ok, so I am failing! math! AB calculus. I always used to be soooo good and now all I can get in the class after trying my hardest is a high B. And then we took a week long sample AP exam that counts as our quarter grade....which i got a 3 on! A 3!!!!! He's being lenient and giving us a low B, but Im just so angry that I dont get calculus. I just don't get it. I mean I used to be the person everyone asked help from in math before, and now that math "genius" mentality of mine is gone. I can't learn or understand the materials and i feel so stupid. </p>
<p>One question: Is it normal to be an extremely science person but not math? Does that combination throw colleges off?</p>
<p>People who are interested in science are often interested in math as well (the two being their best subjects, most of the time). If you were to go into science, you would have to take some physics and chemistry no matter what. Those are very math based, physics especially. I suggest that you emphasize your strengths in science and other subjects. Colleges understand that not everyone is good in every subject.</p>
<p>I'm not sure that you should be so upset that you aren't intuitively comprehending College level curriculum. The stuff isn't easy to a majority of people. Maybe Leibnitz and Newton understood it VERY well, but regular folk might have to work a little harder at it.</p>
<p>Is there anything that you're not understanding specifically? I for one really like the formal limit definition of differentiation and integration: they helped me understand what calculus is. Some people have defined calculus as "a trick to dividing (and multiplying) by zero". I understand that to mean that you're dividing by zero when you find the instantaneous slope of a function because the distance between your two x points are infinity small, but so is the distance between the two y points. They are just different ratios of infinite smallness.</p>
<p>The same thing with integration. Think about those reimann sums, those are rectangles under the curve. When you do integration, those rectangles have infinitely small thicknesses, yet when you add up all their areas, you get a number that is not zero. </p>
<p>A three is nothing to get flustered over: it's a good grade!</p>
Please use old threads only for research. The OP is long gone by now.