simfish

So, I look at the sample demos of the Stanford EPGY online math courses. And the real analysis course. And behold - the explanations that you have to udnderstand look the same as the textbook of a standard calculus course. Besides, most college math courses take several quarters to complete, whereas Stanford EPGY only require one course for each (abstract alg, real analysis, etc..). So are the stanford EPGY math courses just brief versions of what you would get in a college math course? And would one of them ever count for credit for a state university one year sequence of say, abstract algebra or real analysis?

http://epgy.stanford.edu/courses/mat...15lecture.html

...Then again, explanations are supposed to simplify what the textbook is saying. So they tend to be more informal. Still, why not let the textbook be more informal itself?

...

And why in the heck do they split up multivariable calculus into integral and differential???

Orange Juice.

bump, im interested.

sr6622

And why in the heck do they split up multivariable calculus into integral and differential???

Probably money?

kayakmom

my son took an egpy placement test before he enrolled in his math course. maybe you could try that before commiting your $ one way or the other

kyzan

how are the calculus courses? easy? hard?

hikaru2005

egpy is stupid and for the rich. just a ploy to earn money when there aren't many students on campus during the summer.

simfish

And regular college courses take a similar amount of money away from you

kayakmom

our family does egpy all year round and i have found it a valuable resource. i spent so much money at a private school but the math courses at egpy take the difficulty up a few levels and the kids can progress at their own rates and not be held back.

SpudmanKA

yes, i did epgy for several years, in both math and physics. you set your own pace for the course, so it is entirely possible to finish a course in a month, and now they have you pay for a certain time period, and you can try to complete as many courses as you can within that time period. i do warn you, that as you get into the higher level math and such, it is MUCH harder than your average college math class. i decided i was done with epgy when i took the linear algebra course, because it damn near killed me. but for the younger folks, 1st grade math through precalculus are quite good.

simfish

I can see their linear algebra and differential equations courses being much harder than the average college math class - but not abstract algebra or real analysis. Linear algebra and differential equations courses - they pretty much cover the whole textbook while most university courses don't. However, most university courses cover more in the way of abstract algebra and real analysis, if only because these courses tend to last a year rather than a quarter.

I'm not going to do linear algebra or differential equations - MIT OCW has EVERYTHING for those. But I'll probably consider it for something higher up the list. Maybe quantum mechanics.