>>>>The statement was made in my discrete mathematics class, by the professor, Dr. Nancy Zumoff, Ph.D. So I'm strictly echoing her opinion. She's still at Kennesaw: http://science.kennesaw.edu/people/nzumoff.html.
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>>>mmm... I browsed her site. I like her approach. Get the kids learning Calc and applying it to real world problems at the same time. BTW, she looks awful young for being your prof 15 years ago? Is she a child prodigy?
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>>Let's see...I took the class in the fall of 1986, so yep, 15 years ago.
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>>I don't know if she's a child prodigy or not. She was (and I'm sure still is) an extremely nice (not to mention brillant) person. I had more trouble in her class than in any of the others I took. My problem was that part of the course involved proving mathematical theorems. That's a blind spot for me. I'm pretty good in all other areas. She was very supportive and helpful. I was 38 at the time and wanted very badly to get nothing but A's in all my courses. Didn't work out. I got a B in her's, and probably wouldn't have done that well if not for her help.
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>George;
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>Proving mathematical theorems has been a life's work for a number of people. Imagine spending most of your life attempting to prove or disprove a theorem. I recall a person who did such a thing about 150 years ago trying to solve for the value of pi. In 1960 a mainframe determined in a matter of a few seconds a mistake had been made half way through the mans work which rendered the remainder incorrect. The answer by the computer was carried out to many more places than the original.
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>Rather disgusting to have a computer solve your life’s work, find you screwed up less than half way through your life and the net result is garbage. There is a message there but it makes me ill.
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Tom,

It would make me ill too. In my case, however, it was more like the proofs you learned in high school geometry. Couldn't get that either.< g >