October 22, 2008 – David Richeson: Division by Zero

E-Z Pass, speeding tickets, and the mean value theorem

On Monday I gave a lecture on the mean value theorem in my Calculus I class. The mean value theorem says that if is a differentiable function and , then there exists a value such that . That is, the average rate of change of the function over must be achieved (as an instantaneous rate…

David Foster Wallace’s commencement address

Here is a commencement address given by the late David Foster Wallace at Kenyon College in 2005. It was recently reprinted in the Wall Street Journal. It is both inspirational and melancholy, especially after David Foster Wallace’s apparent death by suicide. He says: Twenty years after my own graduation, I have come gradually to understand…