My Journey With Mathematics

For visiting students here: Calculus 3 Professor Leonard

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Calculus 3 (Full Length Videos)

Calculus of Vectors, Vector Functions, Surfaces, and Vector Fields. Topics include an Introduction and study of vectors in 2-D and 3-D, a study of 3-D functi...
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For visiting students here: Statistics Professor Leonard

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Statistics (Full Length Videos)

Topics: Data Analysis and Interpretation, Data Descriptors, Probability, Binomial and Normal Distributions, Confidence Intervals, and Hypothesis testing with...
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For visiting students here: Pre-algebra Professor Leonard

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Prealgebra (Full Length Videos)

Topics: Introduction to the number line, Operations involving integers, Solving basic equations, Introduction to fractions, Introduction to rates and ratios,...
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For visiting students here: Precalculus Professor Leonard

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Precalculus - College Algebra/Trigonometry

A Complete Video Series intended to prepare students for Calculus 1. The playlist will cover both College Algebra and Trigonometry.
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NOTE: PROFESSOR LEONARD HAS NOT COMPLETED UPLOADING PRECALCULUS MATERIAL IN ITS ENTIRETY AS HE PROGRAMS ONE LESSON PER WEEK OR EVERY COUPLE OF WEEKS.
 
The fact of the matter is that students are not being taught to learn; they are being taught to memorize for the sole purpose of passing standardized exams (that have been GREATLY lowered in standards) make school districts look good and give parents the false hope that their child is learning and being prepared for life after the school years end. You say?
 
This is a true story which is one of the more shameful moments for American Journalism.
When Einstein first arrived in the port at NYC, a reporter wanting to seem prepared asked "Dr Einstein can you give us \(\pi\) to five places"?
Einstein looked puzzled and then said, "I never bother to learn anything that I can lookup".
 
The school system can't be lowered.

In NYC (and other cities) the people in power try to keep minorities students down. This is a fact and I will not debate it.

While I was an undergraduate at CUNY I tutored in the math department's math lab. Most of the students who came into the tutoring lab was white (no different then the rest of the population at the college) and they were weak in math, extremely weak. Then for graduate school I went to a different CUNY college and again taught in the college's math lab. This time the students were mostly minority students and I was expecting to see much weaker students coming in for help. This did not happen. I was surprised (and happy!). But why was this I thought? Then I realized that once you hit the bottom you can't go any lower. Maybe the minority students hit the bottom before the white students did but both groups bottomed out at some point. In NYC and elsewhere in the USA we have no educational system to talk about. Its very sad that in any community college that I looked at the number 1 course offered is arithmetic with 30+ sections and maybe only 1 or 2 sections of calculus 1.
I understand that the k-12 teachers have a tough job but can't they teach every student one times table per year! Some of them are fairy simple like the 1, 2, 5 and 10 times table. Most of the 11 table is simple as well. Shame on the ones that don't bother to at least get their students to learn a table per year.
 
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Teachers can make a change! The students just have to know that they are cared about!

I had this one student in my algebra class who was clearly my brightest student. Anytime I showed a new problem he caught on right away and then answered question after question correctly for those type problems. This happened with every new type of problem. The problem was that he failed every weekly quiz I gave him for 6 weeks straight. Then I spoke with him, told him that he was clearly the brightest person in the class and that he is going to fail this class if he didn't start doing work outside of class. He told me that 'I have your back' and proceeded to get A's on all his exams. Just tell the student that they can do the work and that you care about them and they will do their part. Sometimes it might take more than one talk with a student but you can get through to them. I know this first hand! I never failed getting through to a student, never! It takes hard work but you can reach these students.
 
By the way, Cohen's book is probably for an honors Precalculus course. It is, as you said, extensive. As I have said here a few dozen times in the past, I took Precalculus in the Spring 1993 semester as an elective course. The graduate student/teacher working to complete his student teaching requirements did not cover half of the topics presented in Cohen's textbook.

I just figured out what the problem is: I need to purchase user-friendly books. Example, the MATH FOR DUMMIES series. I plan to purchase all the MATH FOR DUMMIES math books when back on my feet.

The time has come to say goodbye to the David Cohen textbook and the Michael Sullivan College Algebra textbook. I need and desire to learn these concepts well. My current textbooks are simply not helping.
 
Dear Friends,

I am going through a dark, stormy night in my life. Taking a few weeks off until life gets better. I'm gonna miss math but most of all, my interaction with all of you here.

It is REALLY HARD to concentrate on anything that requires thinking, especially math not knowing when my UI checks will begin posting in my bank account. Currently on furlough WITHOUT PAY. Surviving on my savings alone.

Scary stuff that came upon millions due to COVID-19. Pray for me. Let us pray for each other. See you soon. Live long and love math.

Harpazo
 
I have decided to replace my current textbooks with MATH FOR DUMMIES textbooks. When back on my feet, I plan to purchase both COLLEGE ALGEBRA FOR DUMMIES & PRECALCULUS FOR DUMMIES. The user-friendly language in the DUMMIES series should help me understand mathematics so much better. Goodbye David Cohen and Michael Sullivan. You say?
 
harpazo said:
I have decided to replace my current textbooks with MATH FOR DUMMIES textbooks. When back on my feet, I plan to purchase both COLLEGE ALGEBRA FOR DUMMIES & PRECALCULUS FOR DUMMIES. The user-friendly language in the DUMMIES series should help me understand mathematics so much better. Goodbye David Cohen and Michael Sullivan. You say?
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Well, I for one am sad to learn that you have decided not to study beyond middle school mathematics.
 
pka said:
Well, I for one am sad to learn that you have decided not to study beyond middle school mathematics.
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I will continue where I left off, that is, graphing trig functions but using the MATH FOR DUMMIES books sold on Amazon. David Cohen and Michael Sullivan are great math professionals but not gifted in terms of explaining hard concepts for all to grasp.

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pka said:
Well, I for one am sad to learn that you have decided not to study beyond middle school mathematics.
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I am going to study math beyond the middle school years. I plan to go beyond Calculus 3 into Differential Equations, Linear Algebra, etc but not now. Life must improve for me. Until then, I cannot dedicate the NEEDED TIME to learn math correctly.
 
MarkFL said:
I've been actively engaged with mathematics, first as a student, and then on my own just exploring topics I found interesting, and then within the online math communities, for well over 25 years. But, I don't have to look far within the online math help communities to find people far more talented and knowledgeable than I am. I would get discouraged very quickly if I tried to hold myself up to others, so I don't do that. I simply admire the insightful posts I see, and try to learn from them as I go.

Hopefully, as you journey through your textbooks, you begin to find that the topics build on themselves so that you don't forget what came before. And as you progress, you continually fortify the previous lessons learned. For example, studying trigonometry will really strengthen the concepts you learned in algebra, and calculus will fortify what you learned in trig and algebra.
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I concur. I want to step into the realm of working through problems by reasoning and systematically work my way to the answers. Of course, I am talking about high school math, precal, calculus 1-3, geometry and basic probability. I am not talking about abstract algebra, linear algebra, complex variables, differential geometry and other advanced courses.
 
David Cohen and Michael Sullivan are great math professionals but not gifted in terms of explaining hard concepts for all to grasp.

You can't compare textbooks to study guides as they are not the same. It is like comparing apples and oranges. A study guide, like Pre-Calculus for Dummies, just work out problems while a textbook is quite different from that.

Also there is no book that can explain hard concepts for all to grasp!
 
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