[MATHEDCC] forbidden epsilons
Geoff Hagopian (galois@cyberg8t.com)
Sat, 06 Sep 1997 13:47:01 -0700
I'm teaching out of the Harvard calculus text (Hughes-Hallet, et al) - and, hold
the rotton fruit and vegetables a moment, ok? Because I was totally ko'ed by the
effect: students begging for epsilon-delta proofs!! I swear on a stack of
Principias! They wanted the really tight logical version with all the "such
that" symbols! They wanted to see what happens at a discontinuity - a function
which is nowhere continuous - function continuous, but nowhere differentiable (I
gave 'em the Kock curve.) Next they'll want to be tested on it. It's the old
"tell 'em not to pee on the electric fence and they will" syndrome.
Epsilon-delta has become forbidden fruit.
Geoff Hagopian
Palm Desert
****************************************************************************
* To post to the list: email mathedcc@archives.math.utk.edu *
* To unsubscribe, send mail to: majordomo@archives.math.utk.edu *
* In the mail message, enter ONLY the words: unsubscribe mathedcc *
* Words in the Subject: line are NOT processed! *
* Archives at http://archives.math.utk.edu/hypermail/mathedcc/ *
****************************************************************************