MATH 1210 (CALCULUS I)
Calculus has been a challenging course time wise and content wise; nonetheless it is very interesting and can be applied to multiple fields and to a variety of problems. At the end I can see value in learning calculus as I am studying to become an engineer.
After being away from school for a few years calculus definitely forces you to make study time a priority, and indeed it takes multiple hours per week to complete the homework. I cannot see someone just “winging it” to pass calculus. This helps you as a student work on time management skills and at the end it builds character.
Content wise concepts such as the notion of a Limit might seem at first intuitive but it quickly moves into abstract territory by introducing the idea of approaching a value but never actually reaching it, no matter how close you could ever get to it!!!. This forces you to try to grasp infinity with our finite minds.
There are multiple applications of calculus in engineering; for example the sections about optimization are very applicable to any project since in real world, engineering needs to find solutions that can be cost effective and efficient since there are resource limitations. To be more specific think about building a gasoline tank for a car, where you want to get the dimensions as to be able to maximize the volume; by relating equations and using the derivatives and what it tells us about graphs it is possible to find all the information needed to optimize the aforementioned scenario.
