why study calculus?
The intarweb is less than helpful on this subject. The best arguments I can find are ones I've already thought of, which aren't terribly convincing to me (hence consulting the informatio-sphere). Any thoughts
( Read more... )
To impress on an 8th grader who's interested in veterinary medicine the importance of understanding calculus, I would try to explain why understanding the properties of medicines and disease communication is important to the animals she treats. She can be a mediocre vet by learning all the guidelines for medicine usage, preventing communication of disease, etc by rote. She could even be a pretty good vet if she does that and has some empathy for the animals. But if she really has empathy for the animals, she should want to know what's going on inside them, how that is affected by medicines, how it's affected by exposure to other animals and allergens and bacteria and so on. She'll need probability and statistics...and calculus.
It's not about rates of change; it's about understanding how to treat a particular animal and why, and how it could affect the animal. Example: two dogs of the same weight but different body compositions. Do you give them the same amount of medicine? You can learn why you might not in your biology class, but they can't tell you how much the amounts should differ. You can make good guesses of how much to adjust the amount after a few decades of experience, but why wait (and learn from mistakes, aka poorly-treated animals) when all you need is an understanding of calculus to figure it out the first time? Understanding calculus can help you treat an animal more effectively, and with less discomfort to the animal. Pencil-and-paper calculations won't happen often, but the understanding will help with every treatment.
Reply
Leave a comment