Why teach calculus?: Daniel Ashlock at TEDxGuelphU

Professor Daniel Ashlock has a doctorate in pure mathematics from Caltech. He has been a math professor for 23 years and taught twelve different types first year math courses at four institutions for majors in math, hard sciences, general education, biology, and business. He has developed five different first year courses. He currently holds a chair in bioinformatics with the Department of Mathematics and Statistics where he is a Full Professor of Mathematics. He has prizes for teaching at the undergraduate and graduate level as well as for research. He has over 200 peer-reviewed scientific publications in mathematics, computer science, theoretical biology, computational intelligence, artificial intelligence, game theory, and automatic content generation for games. He is a senior member of the IEEE and serves as an associate editor for the IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation, the IEEE/ACM Transactions on Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, the IEEE Transactions on Computational Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence in Games, and Biosystems.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

[Sanguanboon]

At the University of Guelph, he was my Set Theory Prof. in my 2nd year and Abstract Algebra Prof. in my 3rd year. He has an amazing personality, super intelligent and fun to be around. His method of exams were the seek-your-own-level test which I liked a lot.

[daviddemar]

I love Calculus! I never took it in high school or college . I'm teaching myself using a variety of types of resources. along the way I've been re-exposed to trig algebra and geometry and I'm doing it only for the sheer joy of doing it. I get to do it at my own pace and without competition. I highly recommend that you do it too....the intellectual rewards are infinite ☺

[byakugan]

Had this guy at Guelph and he’s absolutely amazing. He’s one of the few profs I’ve had that emphasizes critical thinking and teaches the foundation you need to be able to truly make a connection to the topics at hand. This was a great presentation.

[WaskiSquirrel]

From the K-12 perspective, what I see is that math is not taught for understanding. Students memorize algorithms. They don't know why. They are taught certain keywords to look for to determine which algorithm to use. But, they're never asked to understand what is going on. So, they're helpless when asked to apply the math in my science courses, so I end up reteaching what should be fairly basic math.

I recall this from my own career. I wanted to be a math teacher, but just couldn't comprehend. No surprise, when I switched to Physics, I was then able to understand the math. Why? It wasn't a meaningless algorithm. It had context and application.

[tonyreyes]

I love what he said about text books. He's a real fucking teacher. From one to another keep up the great work. Makes me proud

[jamescook]

Unfortunately, these changes cannot be made without math teachers who have a degree in mathematics. For some reason, "educators" in this country think it wise to have math taught by those who have only a passing understanding. Better education requires better teachers. Better teachers requires schools with actual standards. Actual standards can only be imposed by administrators who have a clue. Good luck finding those. For all these reasons and more, homeschooling for elite students is a must.

[markmars]

Excellent presentation. I assumed that mathematics stopped at calculus. Now, I know a world of infinite possibilities are out there.

[janovewaldner]

I studied engineering and I've seen through the years that even when everybody support math and know the importance of math, the truth I've seen is that not everyone seem to have the brains to do math beyond basic calculations or is good in logic. But everyone agrees on blaming the teacher.

[doodelay]

I really love limits, specifically convergent limits. it's as if you're containing infinity in a box.

[andjelatatarovic]

his shirt... is calculus... but in all serious, I LOVE these topics! and math!! and LIFE!! :D

[ZFlyingVLover]

Calculus can be easily taught to high schoolers especially if you point out how it is applied to real world problems. This is no different than teaching algebra and showing how it is applicable to real world problems that matter to the individual. If you provide the context and applicability of the subject matter then that knowledge become immediately relevant to the individual who has always wondered about that topic.

[gmcenroe]

This title was misleading. I love calculus and thought that he would tell the audience why it is so interesting. Instead he discourages it.

[AdrienLegendre]

Excellent ideas. The level of the course determines difficulty, not the math subject. We should teach more math and integrate math in other subject areas. Use Jupyter notebooks as a teaching resource.

[DipakBose-gehm]

In Economics, we need Calculus. Without it most of the theories cannot be proved. However, in quantitative economics, we do not need it, we need linear and non-linear algebra..

[jackallen]

I took calculus in college and for me at least it was not bad. The concept of limits is fairly straightforward and not a difficult concept. I will however agree on many of his points, for example, the textbook rip off I have always said textbooks are  sold  by the mafia!!  You have no choice on which one to buy and they change them every couple of years....math  does not change....of course I love math, lol. SO I guess I am the weird one in the group.

[vasubhatt]

Did anybody NOTICE, in the two pictures that he showed in the end, one of which has "AUM" symbol in it . For those who don't know what is "AUM", it is a holly symbol used in Hinduism.

[SirenaWF]

If only people would think that maths and other really useful topics were as important as other really meaningly stuff such as what celebrities are currently doing. Not to mention how much more control people would have in their lives. Universities I've discovered are not really interested in number, unless it benefits them in a massive way. You would think that they are, and would listen to you because you had an idea, but they're full of bureaucrats whom are paid to administer, not so much improve.

[pennyzhang]

I’ve taken three calculus course and Linear algebra. The latter is way harder for me

[ThingsHybrid]

you need to have really wonderful teachers for students to appreciate maths, maths is the queen of sciences but the treatment it gets is so bad.

[philipschloesser]

I don't know what all the fuss with Calculus is about... We went straight to real analysis in my first semester...