Daniel Lampert

Honors Calculus 163

Mathematics

One of the most frequent questions from my parents, friends and family is, “Why are you getting C+’s in math, I thought you were good at it!” to which I usually respond, “Math at Chicago is so much harder than anything I’ve ever done before!” The follow up question too my vague response is, “What do you do that is so hard?” My muddled retort is usually along the lines of, “Well, all we do is prove things.” Usually people will then say, “Ah, I understand” when they have absolutely no idea what I mean. Even when some people admit they don’t know what a proof is, I have a hard time answering this seemingly simple question.

Throughout elementary school and high school we were taught that mathematics is a tool used to add, subtract, find integrals, and calculate rates of change. However, most high school students are never really taught the math behind the math. Analysis is a completely unknown field for the average student who has no idea what they are getting into when signing up for Honors Calculus.

There are two types of math: high school math and college math. High school math involves plugging numbers into formulas that are merely given to you. Students are often left to wonder where these seemingly magical formulas come from. However, no answers are given. In college we begin to understand from where these useful formulas are derived. We begin to tackle abstract concepts like topology and number theory. We are no longer left totally in the dark.

For me math was once something I was good at because of my ability to quickly regurgitate memorized formulas. In the world of analysis I find myself lost among the seemingly endless number of proofs. For me math in college is a method of thinking about and solving problems. The logical, organized way of going about a proof can be applied to almost any other field of study. Once conditioned how to analyze a proof and solve it, one cannot forget the methods employed or the techniques used. Now, while I feel I have a somewhat deeper understanding of math, I still often feel lost among the myriad of theorems, lemmas and corollaries.