Re: [MATHEDCC] calculus:def of slope

Bruce Yoshiwara (byoshiwara@hotmail.com)
Mon, 28 Sep 1998 00:41:46 PDT

>My school of thought holds that keeping the calculus embedded in
>its original context (physics) keeps the subject more meaningful
>to students and better prepares them to think scientifically,
>whereas an overly abstract approach dwelling too one-sidedly on
>theorems and axioms involving real numbers, is to put students
>on some ivory tower trajectory probably dead ending in the
>philosophy department.
>
>Kirby

I agree that we want to avoid an overly abstract approach, however, I
think we should also be showing how calculus fits into the life and
social sciences, etc--we don't want to turn off the students who do not
appreciate physics.

Bruce Yoshiwara
(currently at Barnsley College, England)

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