Re: Calculus Excess



dtf wrote:
I was reading a book last week. One of the statements made was when
this certain person took Calculus in the 1960's the book was 379 pages
and cost $30. He stated most people in his class had no problems
understanding the subject. I wonder if our 1300 page $130 calc books
of today are an example of bloatware. Just a thought.

Don

According to the online Cost-of-Living Calculator at the
American Institute for Economic Research (URL of the page:
http://www.aier.org/cgi-aier/colcalculator.cgi ), $30 in
the years 1960 - 1970 is equivalent to the following amounts
in 2006:

$30 in this year: $N in 2006

1960 $201.18
1961 $199.16
1962 $197.19
1963 $194.61
1964 $192.10
1965 $189.05
1966 $183.80
1967 $178.29
1968 $171.12
1969 $162.26
1970 $153.48

It could be that the expansion from 379 pages to 1300 pages is
an example of bloatware; the price translation doesn't seem to
bear that out. Further, I don't think it's at all controversial
to suggest that the preparation that today's entering college
students have in mathematics is quite as good as the preparation
that entering college students had in the 1960's. It may be due
to more exclusivity for college attendance back in the 60's as
compared to today, or a slackening of the rigor of educational
standards over the interim, or [most likely] a bit of both.

My $0.13 (2006 equivalent of two cents in 1960) worth.

Dale
.