Timeline for How should one present curl and divergence in an undergraduate multivariable calculus class?
Current License: CC BY-SA 2.5
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| Jun 22, 2022 at 8:13 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
replaced http://math.uga.edu/~pete with http://alpha.math.uga.edu/~pete
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| Oct 22, 2010 at 23:12 | comment | added | Timothy Chow | @Gerald: Somewhere between your first and second comments you switched from formal qualifications (taking a course) to competence. IMO, it's reasonable to demand some degree of competence in physics of an instructor in "calculus for physicists and engineers" but it is unreasonable to demand that the instructor have taken a physics course. The latter kind of bean-counting is precisely the kind of thing that gives administrators a bad name. | |
| Apr 21, 2010 at 13:27 | comment | added | B. Bischof | When did taking a course in a subject become necessary OR sufficient for understanding a subject? | |
| Apr 20, 2010 at 18:01 | comment | added | Pete L. Clark | Yes, in all of your examples it could only improve the course if the instructor knew those things. My point is that asking someone with a PhD in mathematics what courses they took as an undergraduate is both somewhat insulting and against the point of getting a PhD. I have never taken a course on Shimura varieties, but I taught one. If you wanted to teach an undergraduate course on algebraic number theory (or whatever is outside of your student training), I would trust you to prepare yourself properly to do so. | |
| Apr 20, 2010 at 15:52 | comment | added | Gerald Edgar | What about a discrete-math course for computer science students taught by a math instructor who does not program? Or a financial math course taught by a professor who knows the math cold, but cannot explain what is a credit default swap? | |
| Apr 20, 2010 at 15:26 | comment | added | Pete L. Clark | Gerald, your remark seems rather harsh. I take my teaching responsibilities seriously, and I think that a PhD in mathematics is sufficient qualification for anyone to pick up concepts from freshman/sophomore physics as needed. I would certainly not be pleased to receive such an inquiry from my department head. | |
| Apr 20, 2010 at 14:20 | comment | added | Gerald Edgar | A related problem (for math dept administrators)... How desirable/avoidable is it for physics & engineering students to be taught div,grad,curl and all that by an instructor who, himself, has never taken a physics course ?? | |
| Apr 20, 2010 at 13:52 | history | edited | Pete L. Clark | CC BY-SA 2.5 |
deleted 13 characters in body; edited body
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| Apr 20, 2010 at 10:00 | comment | added | Kevin H. Lin | I liked the comments re: A Beautiful Mind in handouteight ;-) | |
| Apr 20, 2010 at 4:17 | history | answered | Pete L. Clark | CC BY-SA 2.5 |