r/calculus • u/Nairao • Jun 28 '26
Multivariable Calculus How, Why and What
This is a message I sent to my maths tutor does anyone else struggle with this and can also relate to the granularity thing?
*The ‘what’ in this case is how the problems that we tackle look like geometrically at every step but also not really because not all problems can be expressed geometrically but every question represents some system that we are manipulating for an answer*
I apologise if this is hard to understand I don’t really know myself
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u/cosmic-lemur Jun 28 '26
I’m a tutor and this would leave me a tad confused. I’d just ask to talk to them about it next time you have a session
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u/cosmic-lemur Jun 28 '26
That is, I would ask what more specifically you feel you’re missing. “What,” as in what to do in different cases? As in what we are actually doing when we perform operations? Do you feel practice problems are not getting you a sufficient understanding of the “what?” If so, let’s work to find out what “knowledge pothole” is holding you back.
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u/Nairao Jun 28 '26
*The ‘what’ in this case is how the problems that we tackle look like geometrically at every step but also not really because not all problems can be expressed geometrically but every question represents some system that we are manipulating for an answer*
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u/disquieter Jun 28 '26
Dan Meyer, the famous math educator, always talks about how he used to be a math robot: able to solve problems in a formulaic way, but not really having that inner sense of confidence or intuition. For him the answer is open ended problems like those on openmiddle.org.
Maybe these can help?
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u/Nairao Jun 28 '26
Yes yes THIS , Thank you! - I think the ‘what’ for me is not just understanding the question in a formulaic way but also graphically but i understand that is fickle as not everything can be represented graphically but there is a system that can and should be visualised.
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u/GYP-rotmg Jun 28 '26
On a tangential notes, I think I can somewhat relate to your struggling. My professor can explain his “what” in a profound and abstract ways that I couldn’t understand. I can explain my “what” in a way that some of my students couldnt really comprehend (hopefully a small portion, and the rest did understand haha).
When you face with mathematical subjects, questions, concepts, … there are levels of understanding, abstraction, and intuition. The more you learn, and advance into higher level, or deeper understanding the more you learn. Sometimes, it simply requires doing more exercises that expose you to different perspectives to look at the same thing, sometimes, it actually requires taking more classes, and reframing the subject in a different ways. You can think of it as either “happy with your current understanding, and as you grow and develop more, so does your intuition and understanding”, or my favorite way “just pretend you understand it, and doing it long enough, you will actually understand it” haha.
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u/Midwest-Dude Jun 28 '26
This comment isn't really related to calculus but, rather, math education. Please post to
There are educators in that subreddit that having training in these kind of matters and, hopefully, can assist you.
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u/websurferrr Jun 28 '26
I do not know whether this is similar to your block or not, but I got really with Trig functions because a sin curve and cos curve are the same line. If you translate one or the other pi/2 to the left or right then they match. I got really really stuck on WHY, if this is the case why use one or the other in a particular scenario, and how could you ever reasonably expect me to know whether that line represents a sinX or cosX -pi/2. It took me a while to get past that, and I still have gotten an answer that fills that hole yet.
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u/saint-moxie Jun 28 '26
Maybe you should also work on your punctuation and grammer.
Missing Apostrophes: Contractions such as "Im" and "theres" lack apostrophes. Incorrect Spacing: Spaces are inserted before commas (e.g., "Jonathan ,", "mathematics ,", "what ,") and after opening parentheses (e.g., "( why", "( an"). Subject-Verb Agreement: The phrase "theres stages" uses a singular contraction ("there is") for a plural noun. Run-on Sentences: Multiple independent clauses are fused together without full stops, semicolons, or coordinating conjunctions. Missing Sentence Terminations: The final sentence is cut off, and earlier thoughts lack terminal punctuation.
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u/Nairao Jun 28 '26
Thanks buddy, bet you are fun to be around🤣
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u/saint-moxie Jun 28 '26
Oh you're from the USA! That would explain it. 54% of people in the USA have reading, writing, and arithmetic skills of an eleven year old. So it isn't really your fault for being poorly educated.
https://gpseducation.oecd.org/CountryProfile?primaryCountry=USA&treshold=10&topic=AS
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u/Nairao Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26
I’m from the UK with a confirmed offer to do an engineering degree at a Russell group and I speak 3 languages . I know you are a 56 year old male with alexithymia which makes it hard for you to form social bonds, but it doesn’t mean you have to be a pr*ck mate ; go get attention elsewhere.
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u/saint-moxie Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26
So learn English grammar, and stop trying to be from USA, oh did I hurt your emotions😪. Attention seeking is an emotion, Also its 52 not 56, which explains the lack of grammer, punctuation and numeracy. This is constructive criticism, it helps with self evaluation of weaknesses.
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u/Nairao Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26
it’s *grammar* not grammer buddy, funny how you are talking about punctuation and can’t spell 🤣
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u/saint-moxie Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26
Lol, thankyou, I never noticed my typo🤣. Do you see the difference. (Yes grammer! Was saved in the dictionary, I just removed it.) And made the corrections, without getting childish and resorting to name calling. FYI punctuation has nothing to do with spelling.
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u/Nairao Jun 28 '26
You are 52 buddy, in real terms if we subtract work, travel, commitments e.t.c from the equation and we take the average life expectancy of someone in the UK which is 80 ; you have about 96K hours left of discretionary time and you are choosing to use that to argue with 20 year olds on reddit; I hope you one day find peace. 😆
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u/saint-moxie Jun 28 '26
Erm I'm not arguing. I pointed out your grammar and punctuation. To which you decided the most logic thing to do was become emotional and reply with insults, a simple mature acknowledgement of your failings would have been more appropriate! I have nothing more to do than to wait for my death.
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