CONCENTRATION EDITORIAL

In at least two field--Chemistry and Physics --there is a real necessity for a sound foundation in Mathematics. This foundation is being supplied. In addition, however, there is a need for practical experience in applying mathematical methods to chemical and physical problems.

The technique of the mathematical approach is one easily acquired by the individual highly trained in either mathematics or the physical sciences, but the coordinated assimilation of the more elementary aspects of both is an almost unattainable ideal.

The primary courses in mathematics are taught in rotation by the same faculty that teaches the more advanced ones, each professor teaching some one of the primary courses each year in addition to his specialty. For the faculty, this is highly desirable, as it forces each professor to keep the elements of his science at his finger tips. For students interested in mathematics as an instrument and not as an end, the digressions of such specialists as Professor Stone, seem superfluous and distracting. What these men desire primarily is to be presented with the origins and uses of the mathematical forms they will want to put into practical uses.

In the Physics department, where the problem is most vital, a few willing tutors endeavor to supply this training, snowed under as they are by their own work.

There would be no problem, were the situation once fully comprehended, for if the teaching of specified sections of the first three mathematics courses were more static, a section structure including one section especially designed for direct application of the principles taught could be evolved. This sort of solution would necessitate a modification in the structure of the mathematics department which would not be wholly desirable.

Another alternative has been suggested since it is often objected that Physics C is overly elementary. Were this course limited in scope and approached from the standpoint of the application of calculus to simple physical phenomena, this difficulty would be remedied. This alternation would take advantage of the long neglected Mathmatics A prerequisite for Physics C, and would give students an easy introduction to the mechanism of mathematics as an implement in problems in the physical sciences. From that point undergraduates would be fitted to be carried on with less professorial guidance.