I had no interest in math until I had Calculus in High School. I then went on to pursue dual degrees in Computer Science (because I <3 Programming) and Pure Mathematics (because Calculus made me <3 Math).
Maybe it was just an exceptionally good teacher, but the more I learned about Calculus the more I feel it was the subject itself. There was something seductive in the idea that by changing the way you think about something, like the area under a curve, you could calculate the previously impossible. The core of Calculus (at least the part you would learn in High School), derivatives and integrals, are easily enough explained.
I'm glad I had Calculus or I wouldn't have gone on to pursue mathematics so doggedly, I wouldn't have gotten to learn the strange and beautiful world of numbers, I may have missed out on one of my great loves.
That said, I'm sure in the hands of a less than stellar teacher, Calculus is a painful thing.
Maybe it was just an exceptionally good teacher, but the more I learned about Calculus the more I feel it was the subject itself. There was something seductive in the idea that by changing the way you think about something, like the area under a curve, you could calculate the previously impossible. The core of Calculus (at least the part you would learn in High School), derivatives and integrals, are easily enough explained.
I'm glad I had Calculus or I wouldn't have gone on to pursue mathematics so doggedly, I wouldn't have gotten to learn the strange and beautiful world of numbers, I may have missed out on one of my great loves.
That said, I'm sure in the hands of a less than stellar teacher, Calculus is a painful thing.