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Re: I guess I get to "put up or shut-up".





Hi Paul,

My remarks were a criticism of the presentation of flux in the
Hughes-Hallet calculus text. They were not intended as a wholesale
condemnation of the text. If I gave that impression I regret doing
so. However, I was trying to give you, and other interested parties, a
"Heads-Up" concerning an unfortunate shortcoming. I was not aware that
the Multivariable Calculus volume that I looked at was a preliminary
version. My institution used an even earlier version in the Fall of 94,
so I presumed the version that I read was not a preliminary version.

Gene




Hi Gene,

Refering to the Hughes-Hallet calculus text you wrote:

This text is used to teach calculus in my school. Last year, after
attempting to guide my students through Gauss' law, I looked up the
treatment of flux in the multivariable calculus book. It seemed to me the
presentation of flux lacked any intuitive feel for what flux is used
for. Instead, it was presented as an exercise in doing integrations over
projection surfaces. In addition, the artwork was inadequate. The
figures, which appear to come directly from the output of Mathematica
program, fail to convey their intended meaning.
--------snip---------

I will be using the multivariable volume for the first time this semester,
so you may have more experience with it than I. I do know that the
multivariable text is just a preliminary version and not as polished as the
previous volume covering single variable calculus. Let's give them a
chance. The authors of this text are up against an incredible amount of
inertia in the math community, and we should laud their efforts in reaching
out to client disciplines (physics, engineering, economics, etc.). Most
mathematicians would tell students that the reason to study calculus is so
that you can take the next math course in the sequence. Not these guys, and
they have an uphill battle in getting their text adopted. I heard a talk by
Brad Osgood of Stanford, one of the authors of the Harvard Calculus text,
who brought this point out in a way that sticks in my mind. He said that
junior faculty should not get involved in the reform calculus movement
because it would be the end of their careers. Only senior faculty who have
already made their research reputations would have any chance of promoting
change in their departments. Alas, I imagine the same could be said about
the physics community.

Paul

Paul Goodman
Skyline College
San Bruno, CA
pgoodman@a.crl.com




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