College Algebra

The first of two summer classes began last Tuesday. Over 30 of us are to show up every morning at 8 for two hours. Some straggle in and I heard numerous comments as the week went on about how hard it was to get up that early. It's not that hard for me but I am having to make sure I get to bed at a decent hour or I struggle to stay awake in the afternoon.

Since this is a summer course the class is moving at a rapid pace. Last week we covered 6 sections in 3 days. This week we only cover 4. For the following 5 weeks we'll be covering at least 6. So far we have covered things we are already supposed to know and carried them a step or two further. I do wonder why math definitions have to be so enigmatic. While I expect most people can easily determine if a graph is increasing or decreasing they would be at a loss to know what is meant by,

A function f is increasing on an open interval I if, 

for any choice of X and x in I, with X < x, we have f(X) <  f(x)

Why not just say that if it's going up from left to right than it is increasing. If it is going down from left to right, it is decreasing. That is simple and understandable to everyone (at least I would think so.)

Staci and I were approved for the apartment we looked at the end of May. We'll be moving in on July 1st. It is good to know what the next step is. In the meantime, I needed to find a place to stay for a couple of weeks and was blessed to have three offers from people at church. Besides studying, I'll be packing up my room this week.