Blumenfeld Calc

About Aaron Blumenfeld

I've spent years teaching calculus in a university setting. Through teaching, I have attained a much deeper understanding of the material than one could attain simply from doing well in class. In addition, I've learned a lot about how calculus is typically taught, how it's graded, and what mistakes students frequently make. I thus decided to take on a project to make learning calculus not only more efficient, but hopefully optimally efficient.

Why use Blumenfeld Calc?

In my opinion, there are two huge problems in math education. The first is that too much information is presented. One of the hardest parts about teaching is deciding what not to cover. A typical section in a textbook might be 10-20 pages long. In each section within a course, I've written very brief summaries of the essential information to know.

The second problem is that math education is too passive. Students go to class and watch their professors and TAs do problems on the board. They may do some problems at home, but not nearly enough. It shocks them when they take the exam and get a 50%. The only way to learn math is by doing math. As Indiana Jones said, "if you want to be a good archaeologist, you've got to get out of the library!" The same thing applies to math. You won't learn calculus by reading examples, either in a book or on a chalkboard. You have to get your hands dirty.

You can take dynamically generated exams to see how prepared you are for real calculus exams (and you can view the solutions if you're not prepared). This is the real value of this website: the exams you take will adjust to your level. The goal is to take exams and learn from your mistakes to improve your grade level. If you can achieve a high grade level (say, around 3.5 on a scale from 0-4), you should feel confident that you'll ace the real exam. This website aims to remove 100% of the overhead from studying.

How should I use Blumenfeld Calc?

First, read through the material on each relevant section to your course. These are very brief writeups – much shorter than a section in the typical textbook. These include mini-quizzes, which are simple problems following an example to make sure you understand what's going on.
Next, take a quiz (which consists of 5 questions) on each relevant section to test your understanding of the section.
Finally, begin taking dynamically generated exams – which consist of 12 questions – to prepare yourself for real calculus exams.
After each exam, you can take a look at solutions to see where you went wrong (if you made any mistakes). Don't just read the solutions – make sure to work through the calculations on a piece of paper yourself in order to actively engage with the material.

Blumenfeld Calc

About Aaron Blumenfeld

Why use Blumenfeld Calc?

How should I use Blumenfeld Calc?

What courses are offered on this website?