Professor Mumford, with perhaps intentional hyperbole, ends his article with a plea not to alienate the
99 percent of students who will not need to see rigorous proofs for their future careers. At our school,
“business calculus” and “calculus for biology majors”
have far more students than our calculus sequence for
math, engineering, and physical science majors. Traditional texts for the former two courses have never
emphasized rigor, and the word problems are tailored
for the respective majors. From conversations with colleagues at other institutions, we surmise this is also
the case nationally. Professor Mumford need not worry
about overexposure to proofs for these students, with
or without “reformed” calculus. Overexposure never
existed.