Here are some items I found in my Twitter feed yesterday. The first two are courtesy of Bill Barnes, @ataribill.
Build a direction-finding loop antenna
Calculus Made Easy
This book, written in 1910, and brought to us via Project Gutenberg (which offers more than 57,000 free e-books), purports to make calculus more understandable. I’ve only just started wading into the book, but I think that it does make it easier, if not easy. Being the teacher that I am, I’m thinking about using this book to develop a course with a working title something like “Calculus for Makers.” That just might be doable.
This Should Work Podcast
Speaking of makers, here’s a new podcast for makers and those who run makerspaces. Episode #10 – Otherworldly Sounds, Amateur Radio, and the Ur of Maker Culture with Brian Davis pays homage to amateur radio and the place it occupies in the makersphere. Other episodes of interest to amateurs include #13 – Which 3D Printer Should You Buy? and #12 – Drew Fustini, the Open Hardware Summit Badge, and Why Make?
David Ryeburn says
I downloaded a copy of Calculus Made Easy. Making things easy is fine, but making them easier than they really are is not fine. There are errors as soon as pages 5 and 6. I did not read further.
I taught calculus (and other things) for nearly 40 years. There are several recent calculus texts which are readable and mathematically OK.
Most people who study calculus and have trouble aren’t really having trouble with calculus itself; they have trouble with the high school algebra and the trigonometry that you need to understand properly before there is any hope of learning calculus. Recently I tried to help someone who was having trouble understanding how to differentiate x^3. He had to expand (x + h)^3 and didn’t know how. I think I learned that in about grade 8 or 9.
Before you build a complicated transceiver you should know how to solder.
David VE7EZM and AF7BZ
Dan KB6NU says
What are the other texts you mention?
David Ryeburn says
There are several, but I like Calculus Early Transcendentals by Anton, Bivens, and Davis.
Full disclosure: I did error-correction and proofreading for some earlier editions of this book. That helped pay for the computer I am using right now, and for my Elecraft KX3.
Stewart’s Calculus is pretty good too.
And if you want a really good, but old, book try Courant’s Calculus (in two volumes). That’s what I learned calculus from 60+ years ago. Of course that was long before inexpensive computers.
David VE7EZM and AF7BZ
Rob W4ZNG says
Dan, as David has indicated, this could be a massive undertaking, and there are pitfalls beyond the difficulties of calculus itself. However, with a title like “Calculus for Makers” and based upon your other writings, mark me down for a pre-order! While I use calculus every day in my work, a fresh and entertaining review is alway welcome.
Ed KC8SBV says
I thought the only people that need to know calculus are the software programmers who write the software industry uses. Hmm, am I wrong?
Dan KB6NU says
What kind of work do you do that you use calculus every day? I must admit that I rarely, if ever used calculus in my day-to-day work as an electronics engineer, although I think it’s a good idea to understand the concepts.