(July 26, 2017 at 11:42 pm)Kernel Sohcahtoa Wrote: CIJS,
There is a temporary employee working in my department who is getting ready to begin his freshman year of college at an engineering school. Now, I'm not sure how math came up, but he began talking about how much he enjoyed it. Apparently, he has completed calculus AB and BC in high school, which is the equivalent of college level calculus I and II.
Now, later on as the day progressed, I remarked that he would probably love differential equations (DE's), and he said that he had briefly covered DE's in his BC course. I then asked him what kind of DE's he covered, and he wasn't exactly sure. In response, I scribbled out a random first order DE in terms of y variables, which jogged his memory, as he stated that the objective was to solve for y via separating the variables on each side of the equation. To top it all off, when this gentleman went on his break, he asked me if the equation that I wrote was solvable, as he wanted to work on it during his break; however, unfortunately, I kind of wrote it out of thin air, so I didn't want to reply in the affirmative because coming up with workable/challenging DE problems is a true art-form in itself.
With that said, I must say that I think this young man has got what it takes to really grow in mathematics: he has that curious desire to play with math and turn it inside and out, which IMO, is absolutely essential for success in higher mathematics. Hence, I'm strongly considering giving him some of my math books (for free of course), as I think he is one of those unique individuals who can actually do something cool/wonderful with mathematics along with his intelligence.
P.S. I hope he has an excellent college experience and that he accomplishes his goals, as he is a very nice, young gentleman. Live long and prosper, young sir.
Hopefully he won't be like the guy in one of my son's engineering classes, where the question was posed, "What makes iron stronger?", and responded "Lead?". Or, when asked why a Space Shuttle launch was so expensive, responded, "The high price of gasoline?". Looks like he won't. :thumbsup:
If you get to thinking you’re a person of some influence, try ordering somebody else’s dog around.