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From: mroussel@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca (Marc Roussel)
Subject: Re: The use of calculators in teaching calculus
Message-ID: <1990Dec4.153739.14583@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca>
Keywords: Calculators, calculus
Organization: Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto
References: <4608@umbc3.UMBC.EDU>
Date: Tue, 4 Dec 90 15:37:39 GMT

In article <4608@umbc3.UMBC.EDU> rouben@math13.math.umbc.edu () writes:
>Here are a few thoughts and ideas on the role of calculators 
>and computers in teaching freshman calculus.  I am interested
>to find out if there are others who share these thought, or if
>there are some who disagree with me.  Comments from both 
>teachers and students of calculus are welcome.  

     Everytime I see a discussion along these lines, I get
uncomfortable.  It seems to me that lumping all "freshman calculus" into
one box and asking this vague question is dangerous.  There are
different audiences for freshman calculus and their needs are
different.
     The original poster said something about doing away with epsilon's
and delta's.  I certainly think that this is appropriate to a crowd of
non-specialists, but I shudder at the thought of taking rigour out of
your top-of-the-line course.  There should always be a course available
for students who want to understand rather than merely to become
proficient with a certain set of skills.
     I am a chemical physicist who uses computer algebra a lot.  These
things have their place, perhaps even in senior classes.  I believe
however that one needs to learn to do things by hand before one begins
to use machines to automate the tasks.  I would be very concerned if the
next crop of scientists coming along had no way of verifying the output
of their calculations independently of the machine.
     I am looking forward to the discussion to which we will all be
treated.

                                Sincerely,

				Marc R. Roussel
                                mroussel@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca