mutterc comments on What is wrong with mathematics education? - Less Wrong

18 Post author: Perplexed 20 March 2011 02:40AM

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Comment author: mutterc 21 March 2011 12:01:47AM 4 points [-]

Speaking of Wolfram, I learned calculus (in my freshman year of college) in a then-new, Mathematica-based course called Calculus & Mathematica. (My backwoods high school had no pre-calc or calculus).

I really liked it; we were freed of the boring mechanical stuff, leaving time to better learn the underlying concepts. There were plenty of examples that non-programmer-types could copy, paste and tweak. (As a side effect, the then-shiny, new NeXTStations got me interested in then-new Linux).

It seems to still be going today, though I've not kept up with the people.

Comment author: Curiouskid 12 November 2011 05:57:05PM 0 points [-]

I thank you for posting this. I took AP CS instead of calculus this year after I watched Wolfram's TED talk. I was worried that eventually I would have to learn calculus the normal way.

Do they offer online classes? How am I going to get around taking calculus the normal way?