Drawing on his own years as a student and teacher of mathematics, the author reflects on how calculus is taught on either side of the fence, in India and in the USA. He recalls being introduced to derivatives in the 11th standard through a bare tangent-to-a-curve figure that nobody explained, with no mention of Newton's original problem of finding tangents, and notes that his early students at Bajali College, Pathsala shared the same indifference. A stint as visiting faculty at George Washington University changed his perception: there calculus is compulsory for mathematics, engineering, medical and business students alike, textbooks are written so that even a layman can grasp its utility, and pre-calculus courses ease the passage, whereas Indian medical entrance examinations contain no mathematics at all.
He contrasts Indian textbooks compiled from existing material with American ones that grow out of years of classroom notes, and remembers teachers who taught from the same yellowed notes for an entire career. Technology and a more demanding generation of students, he concludes, have forced today's teachers to stay alert and answer questions, a change he regards as a huge development.
