Algebra curricula

[joobz]

The thing is that here, everybody knows what Math xyz means, just like people in the US knowing the specific meaning of Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 and Calculus AB or BC. As one has to take math courses throughout high school, the only distinction needed is whether or not one has "strong" sec 4 and/or sec 5 math.

In fact, my girlfriend applied for a teaching job at a private school which follows the American system closely, and it's a part time job to teach AP calculus, so I finally learned how AP calculus (at least the version offered at that particular school) compares to the Calculus 1 class I took in the first semester of cégep. It turns out that this particular AP class does not involve trigonometric functions at all (limiting itself to polynomial, "rational", exponential and logarithmic functions), which, to me, was quite a surprise. I was, however, not surprised by the "applied" approach taken, though it's not the approach I prefer. This is just to say that not all calculus courses are equivalent, so having done "a semester of calculus" may not give sufficient information for a person who is unfamiliar with the program. From my perspective, not touching trig functions in a calculus class doesn't make sense.

I'm an engineer and am all about the applied approach.

Although, i too am suprised they didn't do the trig functions in AP calc. I remember going over all of those in highschool. At least I think i did...?

This is obviously a sementic debate and there isn't really 1 right answer. Just one that you are comfortable with. The idea is what should be be teaching in a calc class vs. a mathXYZ class... If people you talk to understand, then it doesn't matter.

This also reminds me of an "internet tough guy" anecdote from fark.com. Someone preparing for PhD quals in mathematics said the algebra section would be really hard. Then some internet tough guy called that person an idiot because algebra was really easy, and tough guy knew this for a fact because he had taken courses all the way to calculus in high school...

You frequent fark? I like that site.
As for algebra, it sounds like you are taking offense that people would consider your higher level/abstract alegbra courses as equivilent to highschool stuff.

But then, most engineers think that the DiffEQ is the height of math and get very uncomfortable when people start talking about the abstract maths.

 

[Jorghnassen]

This is obviously a sementic debate and there isn't really 1 right answer. Just one that you are comfortable with. The idea is what should be be teaching in a calc class vs. a mathXYZ class... If people you talk to understand, then it doesn't matter.

Exactly. Because all math courses in the high school curriculum here include multiple subfields of math, there is no reason to give them a specific subfield name. The system is hierarcichal rather than modular. It's only at the pre-university level that general math courses disappear in favor of specifc subjects such as calculus 1 (single variable differential), 2 (single var integral, sequences and series), 3 (multivariable differential and integral calc) and linear algebra (intro to vectors and matrices). So what's really alien to me is this notion of compartmentalizing math prior to calculus, not that it's unjustified, just sort of weird, from my perspective.

You frequent fark? I like that site.
As for algebra, it sounds like you are taking offense that people would consider your higher level/abstract alegbra courses as equivilent to highschool stuff.

Well, I guess I would take offense, not that people should really call high school algebra by another name (it is appropriate, though now I have no clue what people mean by "college algebra"), but to say that the algebra I know (very little of) is as easy as high school algebra is not to know abstract algebra at all.

 

[rachaella]

Here in NY when I went to school we had something more similar to the British system I suppose which is numbered Math courses. Course I, Course II, Course III, Pre-Calc and Calculus (which was the equivalent to Calc I which was offered in college, and if one were EXTREMELY gifted/ambitious, like the autistic student 2 grades ahead of me, one could take Calc II or III in high school). Now that has been replaced for the system of Math A, Math A/B, and Math B. Yes, Roman numerals have been replaces with letters. It is a really odd system where you actually take 2 courses over the course of 3 years - so you take Math A for 2 semesters your first year, and the first semester of the next year and then take the final (Regent's) examination, and assuming you pass, you spend the next semester in Math B. Then you finish math B the next year and take the Math B regent's exam. And then, if you're excellerated, you can go on to Pre-Calc and Calculus for your Junior and Senior years. I enjoy the descriptions as well. But I understand what Jorghnassen is saying to some extent. When I was in school, everyone in NY knew what Course I, II, and III were and I was honestly unaware for some time that others did not use these terms.

 

[Art Vandelay]

And then, if you're excellerated, you can go on to Pre-Calc and Calculus for your Junior and Senior years.

Is that a melding of "accelerated" and "excell"?