wordsworth

I did my first segment of MIT Calculus classes. Differentiation. Super fun time. The videos where not all that bad. It was just weird that one class would be split up so much. Each video was about 5-6 minutes. But they built on top of each other. Each video after the first contained all the previous information. It was weird. The videos created by the “teaching assisances” ( at least that’s what I think they were)  where a lot more helpful then the teachers video.  I don’t really know what to do with the homework. I just did any problems that where in the videos before the solutions where given. It took me longer then it should. Guess I’m a little rusty at math.

Derivatives seem pretty easy. It is nice to have a specific formula for problems. Number theory is really hard because there are no real formulas. It is all about proofs. Really hard to understand.

Anyway, the teacher went over two overarching questions. One: what is a derivative and Two: How to differentiate anything? Apparently derivatives are useful for all the subject having to do with measuring, especially economics it seems. The teacher tried to say that a tangent line could intersect another line at two points. This did not make any sense because, if I remembered correctly, a tangent line only barely grazed a line at one point. Then he started calling this first line a secant line. Which made more sense but still confusing. Was it a secant or a tangent? Other than that he was pretty good at the whole teaching thing.

The black boards at that time seemed really cool to, one behind the other.  Instead of having to earase all the time the teacher could just move them up and down.

The teacher for number theory uses a chalk board, which is weird. And the eraser really sucks sometimes because it does not erase all of the notes all of the time.