<p>For those of you who have taken are taking or are going to take Calculus, is it really that hard? I'm not required to take Calc but I have always wanted to take it just for kicks and to say I know Calculus. At my CC I only see all the Asian students with their Calculus books and no Hispanic, Black or White students enrolled and as a Hispanic I want to see what's it like. I know a bit about derivatives but that's about it. What does Calculus entail and what sort of Mathematical base/background besides pre-Calc do you recommend before enrolling in this course? Also, does it really matter what instructor you take Calc with or is it more of a self-taught course? Thanks in advance for the help.</p>
<p>Calculus requires study and practice. It is not as intuitive to many kids who have been traditionally good in math, and that can be where the problems with the course arises. A solid algebra background is important with trigonometry along with precalc (which is really a catchall phrase). It can make a difference whether you get a clear speaking, understandable instructor who knows the subject well and teaches it thoroughly. You can self teach as you go along.</p>
<p>Y'know, I did exaclty what you want to do...take calculus for kicks to say I had done it. Well, I dropped out of the class! Seriously, if you want to do something for fun, why not learn another language, go take a semester abroad, or something. Seriously. Calculus is not fun. True, it's not as difficult as they say, but it is a lot of work and if you don't keep up you risk lowering your GPA for nothing. Well, if you're still gonna take it, make sure to brush up on your algebra skills.</p>
<p>What schools did you guys take Caculus at and what percent of the students (in your opinion) would you say dropped out of the class?</p>
<p>c'mon where are all the engineering and math majors at? I know you guys have a few calc stories/advice.</p>
<p>I took it in highschool and calc I and II in college...it was exactly the same as the highschool material...i thought it was easier than precalc, and if you have a thorough understanding of algebra it shouldn't be too hard...but the teacher makes a big difference.</p>
<p>Single variable is a lot easier than multivarialbe is all I can really say at this point...</p>
<p>Calc 1 isn't too difficult. Its mostly just memorizing a bunch of formulas for derivatives w/ a brief intro to integrals. As long as your algebra/trig skills are decent, you should be able to learn the new material with relative ease. A good instructor would help, but I managed to get by w/ an A by teaching myself and working with a friend. I'd say a good instructor is especially essential to Calc 2 and 3 where the material gets a lot more challenging.</p>
<p>i took bc calc in 12th grade and got a 5. then i took multivariable/vector calc 1st semester and differential equations 2nd semester in college.</p>
<p>bc calc (calc 1 and 2): easy and interesting. however i HATE series and you really don't need to memorzie them in real life like you have to for that test. takes a lot of practice and you need these fundamentals for calc 3 and 4.</p>
<p>multivariable/vector calc (calc 3): loved it. i'm a visual person and i loved integrating over surfaces and seeing all the forms we used. double and triple integrals, spherical and polar coordinates are tricky at first but w/ practice and if you're a visual person you'll catch on quickly.</p>
<p>diff eq (calc 4): ieh. several definitions you need to know and apply, also some linear algebra i had to learn quickly that i hadn't seen before. not impossible; however, for me it was not "fun" b/c it isn't visual much at all.</p>
<p>this is from a mech. engr major</p>
<p>Ti89 > a calculus student.</p>
<p>Blackdream, how so? likethethrills what does "bc" stand for?</p>
<p>Calculus is absolutely essential in explaining a VAST majority of things in science and engineering. If you want to understand whats happening around you, you need to know calculus. As a chem major i had to take up to diff. equ/ linear algebra but i might minor in math which involves more abstract algebra and complex analysis. To answer mexbruin's question, calculus is easy if you just do the mechanics of plugging and chugging and difficult if you want a SOLID grasp of the concepts. Concept questions on exams will own your soul (for any science/engineering/math).</p>
<p>The TI-89 is your friend when you deal with the wronksion and solving coeffcients in diff. equations</p>
<p>mexbruin, early calc is divided into A topics, B topics, and C topics. one advanced placement calc exam (AB) covers A and B topics. the BC exam covers B and C topics in addition to A topics. it's the harder one and gives you credit for two semesters of calc in college.</p>
<p>thrills, I see...said a blind man once, atleast I think he did. thanks.</p>
<p>I took Calc AB in HS...when I came to community college I took Calc II. Just finished with Calc III as well. The hardest for me was Calc II. Series and Sequences were a PAIN in the ass. Calc III was not hard, but one specific section which discusses topics of finding volumes in 3D space, green's theorem, stokes' theorem etc. is kind of tricky but not hard if you practice. I have to take Diff eqn and Lin. Algebra...next semester :(</p>
<p>I took Calculus in high school also (I'm guessing that what I took was the equivalent of Calc B&C), but that was five years ago, and not in the US. So when I went back to CC, because I didn't have any AP credits, I had to take Calc I and II again. Which was fine by me. I took Calc I spring of last year (got an A) and taking Calc II right now (will get an A, hopefully).</p>
<p>My calculus professor always says, "The way to learn mathematics is to do mathematics," which is his way of justifying the amount of homework that he assigns to us (he always assigns a few problems every day at the end of class; he collects them every week). Just be prepared to set aside a few minutes (half hour maybe?) every day for math.</p>
<p>I guess my advice to you, Mexbruin, since you don't need to take the class, make sure that <em>if</em> you do decide to, you're having fun doing it. Coz if you are, then I think you'll find the experience gratifying :)</p>
<p>Like someone else said, u got to know all ur trig and ur algebra to do it.</p>
<p>For me, the main problem that i encountered was the arithmatic. the bonehead mistakes that i made on every test got really annoying. My professor's tests were very long and all of the right answers came out really ugly - never multiple choice. a typical answer for any given problem might be something like - (3282/43947). One of my friends said "It's not finding the derivative or the integral that will get ya', it's subtracting 3 from 5." However, I and many others still managed an A in the class.</p>
<p>mexbruin, In my experience, Calc is really fun. It is not really that difficult. Some calculus with physics pitched in can make it a little difficult but nothing impossible. Don't miss the action. I would reccomend you to AUDIT the class or take it PASS/NO PASS or CREDIT/NO CREDIT....</p>
<p>Also, my class was single variable. Could someone, without boring me, explain the difference between multi and single variable calculus.</p>