Ivyboy is failing calculus. He simply cannot wrap his mind around the concepts. I am asking for help from my fellow Dopers. I can’t help him because I only got as far as something called Math Analysis, which is one step above trig.
He says he understands concepts, but he can’t seem to apply it to other problems. He does get extra help from his teacher, but that isn’t helping. He’s got some sort of mental block going on…been there, done that…you get so stressed and terrified about a subject you can’t seem to retain information. I’ve Googled online help, but you have to pay extra to talk to someone live. We are getting toward the end of the semester and it may be too little too late, but if ANYONE can PM or e-mail me, I can hook you up with Ivyboy so he can ask specific questions about concepts. I don’t want to get him stuck in a self-defeating cycle…he’s a very bright kid, but this is just kicking his ass.
Is it first or second semester calculus? I was a math tutor for 5 years in college and might be able to help a little. All the colleges I went to usually had free tutoring services available, he might want to check that out. I recommend getting live help, not internet based. Even if it costs $20 an hour it is worth it.
It might help if you gave us a little more information. Like, what specific calculus course is it? (i.e. what year of high school or college is he in, what’s the official course title, maybe what textbook he’s using) What topic(s) is he stuck on?
It might be worth seeing if this book (or one like it) is available from your library or bookstore.
You’re welcome to e-mail me with specific questions/problems, and I’ll do what I can to try and answer/explain them.
The products are very nice, and the student can step in at the point needed, whether it is a matter of algebraic dysfunction, or a matter of catastrophic confusion.
He’s a senior and taking Honors Calculus. The book is Calculus, seventh edition, by Larson, Hostetler and Edwards.
Thanks to everyone who PM’d me. My son will be getting in contact with you. Thanks for the links too…I think we’re at the point where extra tutoring may be needed.
Ah, that’s the book I teach from! (Except I use the “early transcendental functions” version.) Definitely e-mail me if you have any textbook-specific questions.
heh, I have the 5th Edition of that from my freshman year, the book wasn’t bad, but the prof was awful (in fact I dropped Calc III when I had the same professor)
You didn’t give much information on the things he does trying to understand things, so I could be wrong, but it sounds like his routine is along the lines of “read example problem; read example solution; try real problem”. I would suggest that some intermediate steps are helpfull.
He should write down the example problem in his own words (or at least copy it if there’s no room for interpretation). Then, after reading the solution, he should close his book and try to solve the example problem for himself. If he needs to cheat to finish his solution, no problem, but he shouldn’t move on to real problems until he’s able to write down the complete solution to the example without cheating. That will show him which parts of the solution and concepts he thought he understood, but didn’t. Also, spending some time on the problems without really getting stuck will build confidence and familiarity with the subject.
Another thing to note is that asking the right question is often more important than answering it. So when he gets stuck, he should try to write down what it is exactly that made him get stuck and what things he needs to have a better understanding of. Once he has identified and formulated this new subproblem, he might be able to solve it on his own. Or else he will have a great question to ask of Thudlow, resulting in an answer that will be really helpfull.
One thing I like to do when I have to understand some new mathematical concepts is to pretend I have to explain things to someone who’s slightly dumber/slower than me. That forces me to also focus on the small steps that I have glossed over or taken for granted. Sometimes it turns out that I misunderstood these details or that they are far more important than I imagined. So you could have him try explain calculus to someone else, perhaps to yourself.
I’m available for questions as well, use the StraightDope PM function rather than the email thingy, but considering that Thudlow is really familiar with your son’s textbook I guess he should be the first choice.
4.66 has great advice. Lots of the students I’ve tutored don’t realize that math books are books, you can read them! I used an earlier edition of your son’s book when I was in high school and remember it having pretty decent examples worked out. On problems I didn’t understand, I would copy the example from the book and, with each step, ask myself, “Why did they do that?” I wouldn’t let myself copy the next step until I could work out the answer to that question. With that level math, the steps are still fairly similar from one problem to the next, so if he can go through all of the examples in a chapter it will probably help him with like problems.
What I have to suggest will probably sound quite silly, tedious and unthinking, but it sometimes works for introvert type personalities. (Extroverts tend to find the technique a bit naff).
For the chapter in question, simply have him slavishly copy out about a dozen already worked out examples without having him concentrate too hard.
Then have him do it again. And again. Use additional examples if available.
Then put it aside until the next day. Things should still percolate in his mind while he’s asleep.
Next day, have him do it a few more times, morning and afternoon.
Things should begin to click on the third or fourth day and full understanding of the concepts should develop once he tries some problems by himself.
I’m going to have to smack him upside the head. He has a defeatist attitude now…it’s too late, I’m going to fail, none of this is going to help. I’ve told him that he may fail this semester, but he needs to understand it for college and he should not assume the calc teachers in college will be any better in helping him understand things than his high school teacher.
Feel free to line up behind me and smack him in the head too.
(I’ve made him read the thread, and he says 4.66 has nailed his issues exactly. He says my teacher does only the example on the board and then expects us to be able to solve all the problems based off that one example.
**
Thudlow**, he will be putting together a list of issues he’s having and will e-mail it to you. He has a study session this afternoon at school for AP Bio test tomorrow, so expect it sometime later today.
