What They Didn’t Tell Me About Calculus and the Computer

My first attempt at using computers as an aid to teaching calculus began in 1966 and culminated with the publication in 1971 of Single Variahle Calculus, written jointly with Milton Lees. Everyone used a mainframe and punched cards and few knew how to program. Computer use was limited to supplementary exercises that could be done today with a hand-held programmable calculator. A constructive sequential approach to limits and elementary numerical analysis were emphasized. The absence of programming displeased computer scientists, but it was too avant garde for all but a tiny minority of teachers of calculus. Attempts by others of this sort failed as well, but I believed then, as I do now, that the leaching of mathematics must take into account the revolution in our society created by the existence of electronic computers