Another "must-take" online course

Last update: Sunday 7/22/18

DLL Editor's note -- Regular readers of this blog know that from time to time I celebrate the excellence of some of the online courses that I myself have taken. The bizarre graphic on the left side of this intro appears in the opening frames of the 50 plus lecture videos in Professor Robert Ghrist's "Calculus: Single Variable" course (University of Pennsylvania via Coursera).

Let's get right to it:

• This is one of the best courses I have ever taken
• I greatly enjoyed the intro and advanced calc courses that I took 60 years ago when I was a freshman; but I enjoyed this course even more.
• Professor Ghrist warns prospective students that his course is "hard", and it is.
• I completed the course last week, earning an "A". It would be foolish not to learn as much as possible from such a great course, and my Momma did not raise a fool ... :-)
• But truth be told, I haven't used calculus in over forty years, so I had to study harder for this course than for any course I have taken since I was an undergrad.

(Readers should note that this "course" is composed five separate Coursera courses. Professor Ghrist only awards certificates to students who pass all five course components.)

So what's the course all about? This is not a rhetorical question. If the reader assumed that the correct and obvious answer was "single variable calculus" he or she would be wrong. Indeed, the professor assumes that his students already understand limits, derivatives, integrals, Taylor series, and most of the other topics covered by most Intro to Calculus courses.

So what's the course all about? In his first lecture, Professor Ghrist proclaims his passionate belief that "calculus is one of the grandest achievements of human thought". The professor has a dry wit and is prone to understatement, characteristics that make the contrasting bluntness of his proclamation all the more memorable. But the professor has no doubts that the students who successfully complete his highly unconventional presentations will really understand why calculus is one of mankind's greatest achievements. Here's a more extensive quote from his first lecture:

• "Don't skip around a lot. This course has a flow. Calculus is like an epic story with main characters, grand themes, struggle, and eventual achievement. I want you to see that story. I want you to live that story. This course is going to be an odyssey, a long and difficult journey, but if you work hard, you'll make it to the end with something you can be really proud of. A mastery of calculus."

Why did I take this course? Not having used calculus in the last forty years, my calculus was more than rusty; it was largely forgotten. So I found myself at a loss from time to time when reading discussions of statistical learning and other topics that employed multivariate calculus frameworks in data science books and articles. Reviewing calculus of a single variable was a logical first step towards closing these gaps in my understanding. For my next step I will take take Professor Ghrist's forthcoming Multivariate Calculus course if, as rumor has it, it will be offered this fall.

Who else should take this course? I would highly recommend it to anyone and everyone whose calculus is rusty or forgotten ... :-) 


Roy L Beasley, PhD
DLL Editor

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Related notes on this blog:

• A "must take" MOOC and a "must read" book for data scientists ... February 2018