What do you mean Calculus and beyond ?

[ArcanaNoir]

What do you mean "Calculus and beyond"?

Hi I have a rules question.

Regarding the division of the math homework section into "pre-calc" and "calc and beyond",
Does "calc and beyond" refer to math that requires the use of calculus only, or does it mean calculus based courses and any courses with calculus as an implicit pre-req (calc was the pre-req for the pre-req), even if there is no calculus involved? Example: group theory stuff.

 

[Kreizhn]

You are correct that Calc and Beyond is where you would post group theory stuff, though I would disagree that calculus is an implicit prereq for group theory.

 

[AdrianZ]

I think It's an absurd categorization. You don't need to know any thing from Calculus to study group theory, you'll only need a bit of Calculus (like complex numbers) and also linear algebra to create interesting examples of groups.
I guess they mean that anything more advanced than simple high school calculus must be put in this subforum.

 

[berkeman]

(thread moved to Feedback)

I think the division is meant to separate the problems in difficulty, not so much in whether calc would be a prerequisite. Your categorization of anything beyond high school math is probably pretty close.

Other Mentors may have different takes on it though...

 

[ArcanaNoir]

I would disagree that calculus is an implicit prereq for group theory.

Well at my university calc 3 is the pre-req for intro to abstract math which is the pre-req for linear algebra which is the pre-req for elementary abstract algebra which is where i"m doing group theory.

 

[ArcanaNoir]

(thread moved to Feedback)

Arg, that's where I was going to put this at first but then I thought I would get deferred back to the relevant (homework help) sub-section.

So a question about where to put something while questioning where to put the question... PF can be a maze sometimes!

 

[berkeman]

Arg, that's where I was going to put this at first but then I thought I would get deferred back to the relevant (homework help) sub-section.

So a question about where to put something while questioning where to put the question... PF can be a maze sometimes!

You owe me a new keyboard. Dang Diet Coke...

It depends a lot on the forum in question (and I don't normally do any Moderating in the math forums, but it's a weekend and I wanted to try to respond to your question).

In the physics forums, for example, posts have to have actual physics content. If a question is posted about what it's like to be a working physicist, it gets moved to Career Guidance. If it's a question about physics courses, it gets moved to Academic Guidance. If it's a question asking for help writing a realistic science fiction novel, it gets moved to General Discussion, and so on.

In the Engineering forums, I'm a bit looser about moving stuff out, depending on what the question is. Often I'll leave "what's it like to be a working XX engineer" questions in the technical engineering forum for a bit, to see how it goes. But other times I'll move stuff to the more correct forum, to keep the technical forums less cluttered.

In the case of "where to post" questions, those will generally belong in Feedback. Forum organization and similar questions are generally best answered by the Admins and Mentors looking through the Feedback Forum. If it's a complicated enough question, we'll start a thread in the Mentor forums to discuss the issues involved.

Hope that helps. Back to cleaning my keyboard...

 

[Fredrik]

Isn't "Calculus and beyond" simply the forum where you ask about calculus and everything that's normally taught after an introductory calculus course (regardless of whether it has anything to do with calculus). This is only a bad way to arrange the topics if it means that this forum gets a lot more posts than than the others. I haven't checked if it does.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

I think It's an absurd categorization. You don't need to know any thing from Calculus to study group theory, you'll only need a bit of Calculus (like complex numbers) and also linear algebra to create interesting examples of groups.
I guess they mean that anything more advanced than simple high school calculus must be put in this subforum.

We considered the typical math education progression. You will be introduced to group theory after taking a few calculus courses, on average, in the US.

 

[ArcanaNoir]

Thanks for the word, Greg :)

 

[Mark44]

Isn't "Calculus and beyond" simply the forum where you ask about calculus and everything that's normally taught after an introductory calculus course (regardless of whether it has anything to do with calculus). This is only a bad way to arrange the topics if it means that this forum gets a lot more posts than than the others. I haven't checked if it does.

My sense is that "Calculus & Beyond" gets a lot more traffic than the Precalc section.

 

[Redbelly98]

... This is only a bad way to arrange the topics if it means that this forum gets a lot more posts than than the others. I haven't checked if it does.

My sense is that "Calculus & Beyond" gets a lot more traffic than the Precalc section.

C&B seems to get about 4-5 times as many posts as Precalc. Still, it would seem weird to have questions about group theory and linear algebra in the same area where people are asking about factoring a quadratic.

 

[Dembadon]

Since my question is similar to Arcana's, I figured I'd post it here instead of creating a new thread.

Where would questions for a course on logic fit? I've had a few questions in the recent past, and I just posted them in Calculus and Beyond thinking that most students don't take a course on logic before calculus, but it is certainly possible since calculus isn't a prerequisite for it. I guess it would also be relevant within the computer science realm.

To be specific, I'd be asking questions about proofs and invalidity in predicate and relational predicate logic. My main reason for wanting to post in this area is really to check my work. The back of our text only provides answers to selected exercises and I like to work every single exercise at the end of a section. Would it clutter the forum if I were to post some of the exercises I've worked that don't have answers provided in the text? I've already done this a few times without asking and haven't been reprimanded, but I don't want to assume it's permissible without an okay from the staff.