Speaking Nerd =A modern international language

[August1991]

Musk speaks it.

Educated Chinese too.

Americans rarely, even if they understand calculus.

 

[August1991]

I recently wondered about what portion of the world's population can take a derivative.

It is like a statistic: world literacy. (Then leftist Americans wonder: how many wonen.... )

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Leibniz and Newton, some 400 years ago, figured out how to describe a changing slope.

In the 1600s, they were only two guys. Then several. Nowadays, how many people can take a derivative?

I reckon that 5% (1 in 20) of the world's population can take a derivative.

Of course, many more can read this text - billions.