This forum is for PRE-Calculus. READ BEFORE POSTING

I've seen lately a bunch of questions about derivatives. I think it's fairly obvious that derivatives are a topic that uses calculus, but maybe there is some confusion. Please do not post questions about derivatives, integrals, or anything else related to calculus in this forum. That belongs in the university forums, specifically the Calculus forum.

If you have a question about basic simplification, solving quadratic equations, graphing in the xy-plane, etc. it should go in the Algebra forum above this one. There is no concrete list of Pre-Calc concepts so there is overlap naturally, but as a general rule post here only if you are in a Pre-Calculus class or in a Calculus class reviewing, but haven't gotten to any Calculus concepts yet.

If any one else has noticed a common error where a certain topic is incorrectly being placed in this forum, please add on to this thread.

Are limits allowed?

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Originally Posted by Hush_Hush

Are limits allowed?

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Limits that can be done without using calculus (that is, using purely algebraic teachniques) belong in pre-calculus.

Limits requiring knowledge of calulus (eg. requiring power series or l'Hopital's Rule) obviously belong in calculus.

It's usually pretty clear.

The problem is that many students learn calculus in Highschool and think that posting in the Calculus subforum is only for university .... These students need to overcome this bias and understand the big picture.

I'm highly confused about the system. I have many non-universtiy questions that are calculus but not at a university level. For now i've been posting them in the pre-calculus section although I now realise i was technically incorrect to do this.

So I think maybe their should be a non-university calculus section maybe?

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Originally Posted by Big_Joe

I'm highly confused about the system. I have many non-universtiy questions that are calculus but not at a university level. For now i've been posting them in the pre-calculus section although I now realise i was technically incorrect to do this.

So I think maybe their should be a non-university calculus section maybe?

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If it's calculus, it goes in the Calculus subforum. Even if a student is learning calculus in kindergarten and needs help with a question, the question gets posted in the Calculus subforum.

OK thanks for clearing that up, sorry for any incorrect posts i've made.

The problem is that I believe that the answer it will be given to me on the university subforum will be at university level, with series and other stuff that I will learn only at university.

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Originally Posted by m3th0dman

The problem is that I believe that the answer it will be given to me on the university subforum will be at university level, with series and other stuff that I will learn only at university.

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if the answer given is above your knowledge,you need only to reply to the post saying something to that effect, or maybe give some background as to what you can use or what you have done in class, etc

I think it's pretty clear that there are lots of Calculus questions that are at Pre-University level, so this is likely to be an ongoing problem.

Grandad

I think the simple solution is the put a link to the "Calculus" sub-forum into the High School mathematics section.

i.e. Have two links to the same forum.

I think this will stop any further confusion.

Which is correct for the following?

-Series/Proofs
-Complex Numbers
-Polar Co-ordinates

I tend to just stick with pre-algebra and algebra. I don't really understand what belongs in this forum. With the english education system, "after trig but before calc" means nothing at all. We don't learn things in that order. Is that even what it's referring to? I've never really understood it. I'm probably being naive; it could be an international thing, but it's that which confuses me. I don't see what it defined as being "after trig", for example.

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Originally Posted by Quacky

Which is correct for the following?

-Series/Proofs
-Complex Numbers
-Polar Co-ordinates

I tend to just stick with pre-algebra and algebra. I don't really understand what belongs in this forum. With the english education system, "after trig but before calc" means nothing at all. We don't learn things in that order. Is that even what it's referring to? I've never really understood it. I'm probably being naive; it could be an international thing, but it's that which confuses me. I don't see what it defined as being "after trig", for example.

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It will depend on the context but probably the following:

-Series/Proofs in Calculus.

-Complex Numbers in Pre-calculus

-Polar Co-ordinates in Pre-calculus.

If you have doubts, report your post to a Moderator using the Report Post tool and say you're not sure.

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Originally Posted by mr fantastic

If it's calculus, it goes in the Calculus subforum. Even if a student is learning calculus in kindergarten and needs help with a question, the question gets posted in the Calculus subforum.

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Oh, Gosh! Now, I am going to stay awake all night thinking about kids taking Calculus in kindergarten! How will I ever compete with them?

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Originally Posted by HallsofIvy

Oh, Gosh! Now, I am going to stay awake all night thinking about kids taking Calculus in kindergarten! How will I ever compete with them?

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You mean .... you didn't ....?! (Darn American education system).

I'm afraid I'd have to agree that it's confusing for new-comers like me, especially an English one because there is no concept of "before calcuuls and after trig" in the UK as has already been said. Neither is there such a thing as a "Calculus class" a "Pre-calculus class" or any class other than "Maths" (plural, of course!) Or if you're lucky "Pure Maths" and "Applied Maths" or "Stats" or "Mechs" or "Decision"

And I'll also agree that even as a pupil with only 5 days left of school before Uni, posting in the University forum would be far too scary.
Surely there could be a Calculus section for school?