How importance in calculus in high school?

b_r_um
Mon, 04 Jan 2010 23:20:11 +0000

I guess I am in the minority of students on CC who feel that their high school calculus course provided a better understanding than the college version.

My high school course met 7 hours a week with an hour of homework each day. It provided more intuition, computational experience as well as a more through theoretical treatment of the subject matter than the courses at my college. In high school we talked about the epsilon-delta definitions of limits, derivatives and integrals, the extreme, intermediate and mean value theorems, etc. In contrast, calc 1-3 at my college are taught in a plug-and-chug way.

I am glad that I had the opportunity to take calculus with an amazing teacher in high school, or else I would probably not be a math major today.

My conclusion is that the “battle” of high school vs college calculus can go either way.