Tools

I was speaking with Dave Schwartz, a neighbor in Kino Bay.  He is a 78 year old still working full time senior engineer.  He said a couple of things I want to remember and think about. 

He reiterated to me that for him, math is a tool - nothing more, nothing less.  Math helps him get things done.  He is an engineer to the core. I imagine most engineers are with him on that thought.  I imagine (hope) that there are plenty of mathematicians who disagree. There has to be an aesthetics of math or a philosophy of math. I look forward to asking a mathematician some day.

He also told me that he thinks of math in terms of specific applications, and that most people who study advanced math, study it in terms of a specific discipline, such as physics. He seemed to say that there is a pretty good chance that the physics guy couldn't really talk to the organic chemistry guy because their math is so different.  If I heard him right, Prof. Saari said just the opposite -- that one of the best reasons to study higher math is that you could converse across disciplines.

And finally Dave said that I should be thinking of what I am doing now (college algebra) as "arithmetic" rather than "math" -- that math starts with calculus.  O.K., but I wonder what makes calculus, math and not algebra.

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Different teacher already

I got online and discovered that the person assigned to teach the Math 112 section I signed up for has been changed.  I'm now looking forward to meeting   Stephen Reyes. He is a full time instructor rather than being a grad student.  I suppose that's good news.  We'll see.

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My getting a head start on the semester is slowing down. There is too much else to read and too many  pictures to take.  Also, thinking about things like functions in terms of other functions and how they interact with each other is not quite making sense yet.  I imagine it will.  And as Gail told me, the course is not supposed to be an independent study.