Welcome To My World Of Dyslexia... :)

Just the ruler missing. Love to draw with those tools!

Down the rabbithole. :)

/|\ / \ hello it is I, twocubes

So I just finished my CALC 2 class with the highest marks in the class and I wanted to put together a “guide” on how to study for calculus. It doesn’t matter if you are taking AP Calculus or Calculus in college, this guide should be a general overview but I will mention some specifics to AP Calc. *Picture from my Calculus lecture. 

General Tips

Buy the AP CALC review books. Regardless of whether you are in college calculus or actually in AP Calculus, the review books are great in condensing materials and having good examples. 

Create your own cheat sheet. Every time you learn a new formula or theorem, write it down in a cheat sheet. This forces you to recall the information constantly.

Know your common derivatives and common integrals like the back of your hand.

Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, Part I & II? Yeah, it’s fundamental. Need to know that. 

Common limits? Yep, that too. 

Know your pre-calc and algebra by heart. The hardest thing about calculus is not the formulas and theorems, but recalling past materials to solve a problem. If you could easily recognize trigonometric identities, you would be well set for the class.

Know what trig graphs look like and what they approach, etc. 

Learn how to do the math without a calculator. Some professors don’t let you use calculators on the tests and when you are become too dependent on the calculator, you tend to forget how to do simple addition/subtraction and multiplication/division. Also, there is a non-calculator portion to the AP Calculus Exam, so don’t make your calculator your crutch.

Practice every day + do your homework. A little practice everyday goes a long way and doing your homework (even if it doesn’t count as a grade) can be a drastic way of improving your grades because chances are, your teacher knows you probably aren’t going to do the homework and will have test questions very similar to the homework questions. 

Show all your work. Write all the steps out. If you make a mistake mentally, your whole answer will be wrong. To decrease the chances of loosing points for careless errors, label everything, even if it tedious. Also, work shown can count towards partial credit on tests. 

Practice the problems from your textbook + problems outside your textbook.

Understand and review old tests. When you get your tests back, redo the whole test on another sheet of paper. Try to understand where you went wrong. Was it a simple math calculation error? Did you do the derivative wrong? Was the theorem wrong? Did you forget a step like checking for conditions to apply L’hopitals Rule or Alternating Series Test for Convergence? Whatever it is, go through the entire test (yes, even the ones you got right) and re-do it. 

Ask for help when you don’t understand something. Solving tough calculus problems are easier when working with a group on a white board because you get a fresh set of eyes and a new mindset/approach to a problem. If you cannot tackle a problem, regardless of how many ways you have tried, it’s best to ask someone who already knows how to do it. 

Resources for AP CALC

Buy review books. Honestly, this is self-explanatory. I usually would go with a Barron review book, but hey, what ever works with you. 

Do the previously released AP Calc exams. If you are a BC student, do the release exams for both AB and BC for more practice. 

Previously released AB Exams

Previously released BC Exams

Step-by-step explanations for free response questions release

AB Study Guide

Cheat Sheets + Other Resources

I advise you to print out the cheat sheets and place it in the front of your calculus binder/notebook or where it can be easily accessed. 

Cheat Sheets

AP Calculus Stuff You Must Know Cold 

This 2-page cheat sheet is honestly god gifted and I advise you to print it out and laminate or something and put it in the front of your calc binder/notes. Will definitely save your life. 

Algebra Cheat Sheet 

Trigonometric Cheat Sheet

Calculus Cheat Sheet

Derivatives and Limits

Integrals

Online Tutorials + Videos

Khan Academy

Differential Calculus

Integral Calculus

Paul’s Online Math Notes

HippoCampus

Online Calculators

Symbolab’s Calculus Calculator

The most beautiful thing to ever exist when you are checking your answers or looking for the steps on how to do a problem.

Don’t rely on it too much. Actually learn how to do it. 

Wolfram Alpha

Implicit Differentiation Calculator

Desmos Online Graphing Calculator

Bet you don’t know how to graph an x-function on that TI-84 without solving it out for y. But it’s cool, neither do I. That’s why I rely on Desmos’ Online Graphing Calculator.

Wow, this story is my hope for humanity! Keep it up and keep doing what you do, Mathed-potatoes! :)

People never cease to amaze me in every way. 

Today, we had an emergency response drill. This involves flashing lights and loud sounds. I have a neurological disorder that makes this type of even very uncomfortable. 

The hour before this drill, I had an incredibly disappointing interaction with one of my work supervisors. My reaction was much stronger than I might have anticipated on a theoretical level, and I was still reeling when the drill started… so I didn’t take steps to avoid the sensory barrage. The loud noises happen first, and I was already starting to spiral the drain. 

And then…

And then one of my students caught my attention. She told me the lights were about to start flashing, and asked if I needed to go outside. I was so far gone I couldn’t really process how to do the ‘get outside’ thing. Like, I couldn’t find ‘outside.’ So she sherpa’d me to safety, just in time to avoid the flashy lights that would have triggered a full meltdown. 

So, here’s the thing: I have mentioned my disorder to her once, in passing, by name only. She literally remembered that I had a condition, and took steps to know what emergency protocol I might need in certain situations. I thanked her profusely, and asked how she had learned to be so sensitive to stuff like that. She told me she has a younger sister with a disability, and so she understands how significant the timely attention of a knowledgeable ally can be. 

It is significant. It makes a world of difference. 

She saved the day for me. 

She kept me from having to leave in the middle of the day, from having to cancel my afternoon discussions. 

And, at that particular moment, when I was still shocked by an instance of the human capacity to harm, she reminded that their capacity to help, to be compassionate, to care about one another, is far greater still.

Back when I was in school, this concept was really hard for me to grasp my head around, and I must say, this was a compelling way to understand the function of multiplying with negative numbers!

Thanks!

By virtue of everyday usage, the fact that (-1) x (-1) = 1 has been engraved onto our heads. But, only recently did I actually sit down to explore why, in general negative times negative yields a positive number !

Intuition.

Let’s play a game called “continue the pattern”. You would be surprised, how intuitive the results are:

2 x 3 = 6

2 x 2 = 4

2 x 1 = 2

2 x 0 = 0

2 x (-1) = ??  (Answer : -2 )

2 x (-2 ) = ?? (Answer : -4 )

2 x ( -3) = ?? (Answer : -6 )

The number on the right-hand side keeps decreasing by 2 !

Therefore positive x negative = negative. 

2 x -3 = -6

1 x -3 = -3

0 x -3 = 0

-1 x -3 = ?? (Answer : 3)

-2 x -3 = ?? (Answer : 6)

The number on the right-hand side keeps increasing by 3.

Therefore negative x negative = positive.

Pretty Awesome, right? But, let’s up the ante and compliment our intuition.

The Number Line Approach.

Imagine a number line on which you walk. Multiplying x*y is taking x steps, each of size y.

Negative steps require you to face the negative end of the line before you start walking and negative step sizes are backward (i.e., heel first) steps.

So, -x*-y means to stand on zero, face in the negative direction, and then take x backward steps, each of size y.

Ergo, -1 x -1 means to stand on 0, face in the negative direction, and then take 1 backward step. This lands us smack right on +1 !

The Complex Numbers Approach.

The “i” in a complex number is an Instruction! An instruction to turn 90 degrees in the counterclockwise direction. Then i * i would be an instruction to turn 180 degrees. ( i x i = -1 ). where i = √-1

Similarly ( -1 ) x i x i = (- 1 ) x ( -1 )= 1. A complete revolution renders you back to +1.

We can snug in conveniently with the knowledge of complex numbers. But, complex numbers were established only in the 16th century and the fact that negative time negative yields a positive number was well established before that.

Concluding remarks.

Hope you enjoyed the post and Pardon me if you found this to be rudimentary for your taste. This post was inspired by Joseph H. Silverman’s Book - A friendly Introduction to Number Theory. If you are passionate about numbers or math, in general it is a must read.

There are several other arithmetic methods that prove the same, if you are interested feel free to explore.

Have a Good Day!

PC: mathisfun

Got two Mongolian friends here at work if you want me to ask them? :)

Here’s my first attempt at Mongolian calligraphy.

I would greatly appreciate feedback.

Wow, I just love when science is put to practical use!

Pun on ‘Doppler Shift’.

I love it when people take up Physics concepts and incorporate them into the realms of everyday life. 

The Doppler effect (or Doppler shift) is the change in frequency of a wave for an observer moving relative to its source. 

It is commonly observed in sound. When a car is approaching you, the pitch (frequency) of the car increases and when it recedes, the pitch decreases. right? This is the Doppler Shift in action. 

Or to put it in TBBT verbatim - “ Neeeeoooowwwww!”

The Doppler Shift works with light exactly the same as with sound! Just as sound seems higher or lower in pitch as the object is moving towards or away from you, light appears higher in frequency (color) when the object is moving towards you, and lower in frequency/color when moving away from you. The order of colors/frequency of light that we can see is: 

Lower Frequency               Higher Frequency

red - orange - yellow  - green - blue - violet

So a far away object moving quickly away from you would appear more reddish than if it were standing still. The same object moving quickly towards you would appear more bluish than if it were standing still.

PC : Dean Johnson

Hey, do you got juvenoia?  Heres a video for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LD0x7ho_IYc :)

Take care!

kids these days and their baryons; why, in my day, we didnt even have the strong force 

Hey all. Here in Sweden some of our preschools teaches signlanguage. It’s a really good compliment and the kids rock it like they never did anything else. I know Swedsh signlanguage because of my sisters deaf kid. Its a wonderfful way to communicate. Love the bodylanguage that comes with it! Take care!  

Reblog if you think sign language should be taught as a language in schools.

Important topic!

Spread the word! 

Science is being defunded around the world. Help us spread the importance of science, by sharing this video!

Despite our achievements, science and society are often at odds. Scientific discoveries like the Earth is round, that our planet revolves around the sun, or that diseases are spread through germs were all once ideas that were rejected by society. So much so that Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake for suggesting the Earth wasn’t the centre of the universe, and even Galileo was sentenced to house arrest for supporting the theory. Today we see the rejection of scientific evidence for vaccinations - leading to preventable disease like measles coming back, after being wiped out in the year 2000; or the rejection of scientific evidence for climate change, despite the vast consensus among scientists.

Let’s spread our love of science further, so others can learn to understand and appreciate it! Your sharing is appreciated