Calculus is pure theory. A point cannot have a slope. Only lines can have a slope (rise over run) and it takes TWO points to determine a line.
It’s like Zeno’s Paradox because a point can’t really have a slope but yet you can obviously calculate “the slope of the tangent line.” Theoretically you shouldn’t be able to get from point A to point B by walking as each halfway point has an infinite number other halfway points, yet we know that we do. I can walk across the room from my chair to my desk and unfortunately my teacher can ask me to calculate the slope of a point.
It’s ridiculous. It’s really more like a highly calculated guess if anything. Yes, you are picking points on the secant line and picking them closer and closer to the point of interest so you can “eventually” get to the slope of the tangent at that point… theoretically… but who gives a fuck?
I don’t want to be an astrophysicist or an engineer. It is COMPLETELY UNRELATED TO MOST CAREER PATHS.
It is not real, it is a symbolic representation of an alternate universe designed to frustrate students everywhere.
WHY is this a general education requirement? Time and money would be better spent on learning statistics, at least that is applicable to almost every field and helps us to better understand the world and it’s phenomena. But even polka dancing would be a better choice for a general education requirement than calculus. Not saying… just saying.
I give up. Let it pull down my hard earned GPA down: I DON’T CARE. I’ll just pass and move on with my life. English, Chemistry, Biology, Psychology, Neuroscience—now we are talking.
Isn’t it funny how the things I am studying do NOT involve calculus? It’s obtuse (to use the proper word and geometric term) in helping me develop my strengths for a career. It’s a “tangent” from my goals–it’s absolutely “pointless.”
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