Summer is rapidly drawing to a close. I have been taking advantage of
same to rest up, catch up and keep up!
First some information: MATHEDCC continues to grow and I am happy to
report that over the summer we passed the 500 mark - as of today we
have 538 subscribers. Most are from the U.S. and Canada but I would
like to say hello (in all the various languages) to our members from
Ireland, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Brazil, Singapore, Estonia,
Uruguay, Thailand, Israel, India, Austria, Portugal, Germany, Norway,
Australia and The Netherlands. If I have left any countries out I
apologize! It is very nice to have an international flavor to the list
and I strongly encourageeveryone to join in the discussions - I am sure
that we can all benefit by sharing information and by learning how
thing are done in different countries and different educational
environments.
I am already starting to think about the AMATYC meetings in Long Beach
in November. Last year I promised to create a FAQ file for MATHEDCC
and to archive all the postings from the creation of the list until the
present. Both of these promises have yet to be fulfilled, but I hope to
have good things to report by the time we get to LB. One thing I have
done is request that a time be set aside for a MATHEDCC receptionat LB.
Look out for further information when you get your conference program
and here on MATHEDCC. I am excited about meeting so many of you who I
know only by your cyberspace personality - I suspect there must be REAL
people behind the electronic presence!I hope the eventwill be a
great success and will be the "First Annual" MATHEDCC reception.
Now for a question - as I prepare for my calculus II course which
starts next week:
Consider the region bounded above by y = 1/x. Compute the area under
this curve, above the x-axis, between x = 1 and x = 00 (infinity).
The "area" of this region is given by fnInt(1/x,x,1,00) and is
infinite (the improper integral diverges).
However the volume obtained when we rotate this region about the x-axis
is given by pi*fnInt(1/x*x,x,1,00) = pi.
How do you expain to students that the area is infinite but the volume
is finite, since the area fits inside the volume?
Have fun! May your semester be full of the joy of teaching.
Brian
________________________________________________________________________
Brian E. Smith
Dept of Mathematics TEL: 514-931-8731 Ext 1713
Dawson College FAX: 514-931-3567
3040 Sherbrooke St. W. EMAIL: (1) inbs@musicb.mcgill.ca
Montreal, QC, Canada H3Z 1A4 (2)besmith@dawsoncollege.qc.ca
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I would rather lose in a cause that will someday win, than win in
a cause that will someday lose -- Woodrow Wilson
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