How difficult is Calculus I?

[Kadarin]

I took Calc 1 26 years ago at a local community college where it was divided into 4 parts, and the only part I had trouble with at the time was calculus with infinite series. But I passed, and went on up through differential equations.

Now, 26 years later, I can safely say that I've forgotten all of it. I'm not sure I could factor a quadratic now if my life depended on it.

 

[mrjminer]

Sometimes, but not at most schools. There are "proofs" scattered throughout most calculus books, and a professor may do more than the average professor, but generally, more rigorous proofs seem reserved for real analysis.

An example of a proof might be "prove that the derivative of f g h (x) = f g h'(x) + f g' h(x) + f' g h(x)." And it's just a 3 line problem applying the product rule for finding derivatives.

Sounds good enough for me. I don't know if I could do it if the standard was massive amounts of proofs; they were the one thing I was consistently mediocre in during geometry because the lengthier ones would always have that one step that I knew was there and could show, but that I just couldn't state into proof terms. Thanks

 

[HamburgerBoy]

I did poorly in Calc I, but my study habits were a bit shit, maybe in part because it was my first semester and I had taken it in 11th grade, feeling a bit "Oh yeah I remember the gist of it I think". Mostly just derivatives with a little integration and basic limits stuff though, nothing too challenging if the effort is put in I think. Calc II was much easier for me, and although I found questions like "Integrate this equation rotated 3/2pi about the y-axis" to be tedious and tended to make sloppy mistakes there, the more advanced limits stuff as well as Taylor series and etc were surprisingly intuitive to me, although for most of the class it was the opposite. Although fwiw we were given many identities during the exam, so that probably made it easier than for people above. Changed my major from EE to biochem after that, and never had to worry about anything more than basic algebra again. :awe:

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

I took Calc 1 26 years ago at a local community college where it was divided into 4 parts, and the only part I had trouble with at the time was calculus with infinite series. But I passed, and went on up through differential equations.

Now, 26 years later, I can safely say that I've forgotten all of it. I'm not sure I could factor a quadratic now if my life depended on it.

The greatest value of any math is to increase your awareness and ability to estimate. Different jobs require different levels of estimation. I do volume weight estimation conversions in my head all day every day. So, that comes pretty easy to me.

 

[purbeast0]

i personally thought it was pretty easy and took AP calc in highschool and AP'ed out of it in college. i started with calc2 in college and didn't have much trouble with it either. but i've always been more of a math person than an english person in general.

 

[Imp]

I originally went to university for commerce but flunked Calculus 1 for Business. Why business needs calculus is beyond me. I think I walked out with a 48 or 49%. I think I would have felt better if I had gotten 38% because at least that would have been a spectacular failure. I would have had a much higher GPA when I graduated if it hadn't been for that one course in first year.

Same... I did civil engineering and all the courses that followed did use calculus, but it either used a dumbed down version, some experimental approximation, or the professors assumed we didn't learn anything and used the extreme basics of integration/derivation.

And I used to be good at math in school-high. Lulz.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Same... I did civil engineering and all the courses that followed did use calculus, but it either used a dumbed down version, some experimental approximation, or the professors assumed we didn't learn anything and used the extreme basics of integration/derivation.

And I used to be good at math in school-high. Lulz.

Trends (derivatives) are easier to track and more useful than raw data in business. However, you need to understand the units as a cross check on the results. But, you're right, if you don't use it you lose it.

 

[zanemoseley]

Cal 2 is a bitch. Cal 1 is manageable if you stay on top of it. Not sure I'd take it without taking pre-Cal first thought. Cal 3 is by far the easiest.

 

[jaedaliu]

https://www.khanacademy.org/math/precalculus

That takes care of your pre-reqs. Calculus is hard but not any harder than your previous math classes if you paid attention and took all the pre-reqs. Be prepared to spend a LOT of time doing problem sets during your accelerated summer course.

It's possible you still won't get in even with an A in Calc 1. It's possible they didn't take a good look at your application without Calc 1.

 

[Newell Steamer]

Calculus I is like a level 100 dragon, that spews fire with electricity. It's skin is hard as rock and if you do manage to penetrate the skin, it's blood is like acid and immune to all poisons. It also has a protective magic barrier that protects it from fire, ice, electricity, black, white, holy and dark magics.

You are a level 1 knight, with leather armor, a wooden buckler and a cooper sword.

Bottom line; use Game Genie and you are good to go.

 

[basslover1]

Check the admissions requirements for the degree you're seeking. My A.S. for Business Admin had a math requirement of calc or business calc. I could never pass Calc I at USF, so I opted for business calc, which I passed easily.

 

[Anarchist420]

i made a B- in pre-calc (test grades 83%, 62%, 55%, 90%, and a 178/200 on the final) when i took it my first semester of college. when i took it in 12th grade i practically failed it.

i got a mercy grade of a D- for calculus I, my 2nd semester of college. i actually remember all of my test scores (all out of 100) they were 72, 55, 44, and 23... the last test i could not master no matter how hard i tried. on the final i made a 52%. i didnt study much and i was high a lot that semester but the material was also kind of hard. it isnt like algebra where you can get a good grade whenever you are determined to do so.

i took college algebra in my last semester of college so i could graduate and my average was almost 97%.

 

[Jinny]

calc 1 is OK
calc 2 is hard
calc 3 is easiest.

 

[fstime]

In my own experience, Calculus I and II are both easy as long as you have a VERY solid foundation in math.

The tricky part is being able to manipulate problems which is why you must be confident in algebra and trigonometry.

From there, the parts of solving a problem that are strictly calculus become fairly simple.

 

[Insomniator]

Pretty sure I failed either calc 1 or calc 2 in college. Never even tried a second time. Life didn't end.

I had no one to blame but my own brain. Thought the professor was very good and the TA's weren't bad either... I just... couldn't bring myself to put the required time in, or am just stupid.

 

[sao123]

Derivatives were invented because some idiot mathematician just couldn't live with the fact that DivideByZero = Error and there did not exist a single number which could be multiplied by itself to give you -1. So he had to go invent an entire new set of mathematics.

Having now divided by Zero and gotten an answer, that same mathematician now decided he needed to invent integrals, which is essentially taking (a number divided by zero) and multiplying it by zero, so that 0 / 0 = 1 and you get back the original number, and things like e^(i*pi) = -1.

Then some geometry person realized he could use the integral to find the area and volume of complex things like a math students acned forehead, instead of simply settling for things like a circle and a triangle.

 

[Arcadio]

Calculus was easy. So clean and logical. Statistics was a big mess, though.

 

[mikeford]

College math is easy. I'm as dumb as a brick and I passed all math classes up to differential equation.

Diff EQ is a bit of a dividing line isn't it?

No reason to guess or take random opinions. Look at the course catalog for the school you want to go to, and see what book is used for the class and take a look at it.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Calculus was easy. So clean and logical. Statistics was a big mess, though.

That's because stats aren't math. It's changing your perspective on the data set.

 

[Red Squirrel]

It depends if you're good at math or not. Some people are wired for it, some arn't. Math is my weakness so Calc was very hard. Basic math has logic but once you get into the high end stuff it's all about memorizing sets of rules, formulas etc... and I just have trouble with that stuff. Especially because I can't find anything to apply it in real life.

Math is a good thing to know if you can grasp it though. It's very nice that we have computers to do all the work for us, but if you know it and don't have to rely on a machine then even better. You can still use the computer but you will understand more what it's doing.

 

[OverVolt]

Khan academy. Calc I is not very hard without Pre-Calc.

Pre-Calc is probably harder than Calc I.

 

[OverVolt]

Derivatives were invented because some idiot mathematician just couldn't live with the fact that DivideByZero = Error and there did not exist a single number which could be multiplied by itself to give you -1. So he had to go invent an entire new set of mathematics.

Having now divided by Zero and gotten an answer, that same mathematician now decided he needed to invent integrals, which is essentially taking (a number divided by zero) and multiplying it by zero, so that 0 / 0 = 1 and you get back the original number, and things like e^(i*pi) = -1.

Then some geometry person realized he could use the integral to find the area and volume of complex things like a math students acned forehead, instead of simply settling for things like a circle and a triangle.

No

The derivative of position is the rate of change of position, which is velocity.
The derivative of velocity is the rate of change of velocity, which is acceleration.

You do calculus when you hit the brakes.

 

[Tommy2000GT]

linear algebra and discrete math were way harder than Calc I, II, & III

 

[Fayd]

Calculus I will rip the bones from your back, it's a suicide trap, better get out while you're young.

I thought Calc I (differentiation) was okay. Calc II (integration) was much harder for me. Calc III (differential equations) was easy.

huh?

calc 1 is diff and integration.... two sides of the same coin. (fairly easy)

calc 2 was about difficult types of integrations. transforms, trig identities... and then series. everything was fairly simple until series.

calc 3 was about working in multiple dimensions. first off would be 3d geometry, then differentials in 3d, integration in 3d, then the weird stuff. EG, flux across a plane in a directional field. everything was simple until that happened.

 

[IronWing]

huh?

Depends where and when you schooled up.