y(x+dx)=y+dy

I'll post more about what's happening at the moment when I'm not exhausted by...er, what's happening at the moment. In the meantime I learned three things last night, in ascending order of surprise:

(1) Most mathematicians can't explain maths to the rest of us.
(2) Once you find one who can, it actually becomes enjoyable.
(3) Calculus is interesting!

Is this a kind of mid-life crisis? Is it common for arts graduates in their thirties to get into numbers and graphs? Is this the equivalent of accountants taking up skydiving, or having an office romance?

3 comments:

  1. Mid life crisis?... Probably, though you seem to have far too many somewhat eclectic interests to be entirely sure. AND you hop from one to the other at the drop of a hat!
    As for maths being interesting: My Father (who did it for a living) always said it was... After a lot of frankly pointless effort I gave it all up and took up arts. Much more fun and easier too imho... Though pure maths (maths for maths sake) does appeal. Why I have no idea.

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  2. Thanks for the link, my anonymous benefactor. After five minutes perusal, it looks useful and readable.

    The other online book I use is at:
    http://web.peoriadesignweb.com/calculus/introduction/contents.shtml

    It seems to be a work in progress, but it's accessible to the kind of person who has a smattering of knowledge in computing, maths and philosophy, but not the usual years of mathematical 'groundwork' for calculus.

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