Thursday, October 19, 2006

Calculus Cobol

Admin1: Is teaching Calculus today is like teaching Cobol as the cutting edge programming language today?

Doctor Gravytee: Exactly. What is called mathematics and calculus has been taken over by computer languages. When calculus was invented it was like a computer language. It allowed people to calculate tangents easily.

A1: Then why teach a dead language?

Dr. G: You need to understand the dynamics of bureaucracies. Alphysics is an immense bureaucracy. Once a department in a bureaucracy has been established it will never ever go away. Calculus is taught out of habit not because it is useful in anyway.

A1: Latin disappeared.

Dr. G: Latin has never disappeared. It changed its name to calculus.

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