You know it's a bad thing when a prof actually tells you that "TAMO" and "PFM" are valid for your "work" if you have the right answer...Durandal wrote:Indeed, and it's a dying one. It would take me hours on end to integrate 1/(1+x^10), but my TI-89 could do it for me in a few seconds. It's a lot like a story my lab TA last semester told me. He was doing some research work and trying like Hell to solve a differential equation. He'd crossed things out, used countless sheets of notebook paper, and was ready to just give up.Alferd Packer wrote:Derivatives are just procedure.
Integration, to quote my calc book, "is an art!"
Then the professor walks up behind him, looks at the equation and says, "Heh, lemme show you how we solve differential equations." Walks over to the computer, plugs the equation in, gets an answer.
And yes, it's also bad when your one week homework assignment is a single problem, an integral...