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Comment by gowld

6 years ago

What was your math background before you started Khan?

20 years ago I flunked out of a Calc 2 class in college and (unrelated) never got back to it because I changed my major to Philosophy.

I program for a living, but was having trouble, like, with multiplying fractions and that basic level. But it's not hard to learn if you do it every day.

I mean, it's slow going, and I am certain that there are folks who think that integrals are pretty basic math, but its fun and interesting to me, and derivatives have helped me understand quite a few things I never quite groked already.

  • University CS programs are designed to produce professors, not programmers. Many students who graduate from these programs and go into software development are over-qualified. Many students that flunk out of them have their careers needlessly derailed for a few years.

    • Well, for what it's worth, I am now a programmer by trade.

      I took a silly path and spent all my 20s in school, largely working on a PhD in English while I raised my kids.

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