From: Dan Asimov <dasimov@earthlink.net> To: math-fun <math-fun@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Mon, December 7, 2009 10:44:01 AM Subject: Re: [math-fun] Cubic eqn w/3 real roots: trig soln Harold writes: << I once got into very hot water (fired, in fact) for showing a similar derivation to a *college* trig class.
I once got into very hot water for teaching my college calculus students the definition of a limit (limit as x -> c of f(x)) in my supposedly autonomous class. At least with one influential colleague -- a prof who had successfully kept Complex Variables from being a required course for an undergrad math major, on the stated grounds that they had earned a Ph.D. without ever taking such a course. Oh, yeah -- a few months later this very same math dept. was (re-)accredited by the Western States Accreditation Commission, who managed this task without ever once visiting the math dept. or interviewing even one student. --Dan _____________________________________________________________________ Which college was this? -- Gene