I finished most of the limit problems in chapter 2.5 of Anton's book. There were a few left at the end which were more or less beyond me. I've noticed that a lot of my math and physics books include problems like this at the end of sets, which are meant to teach new material and lead into the next chapter. In a classroom or tutorial I would imagine that the teacher and the students worked these out together, but I can't do that. Instead I have the teacher's manual, with not only the answers but the documentation for how the problem was solved. I can usually work it out using this manual book, which is as large as the textbook itself. I have saved some of the last problems for later, in case I actually can meet with one of my Friendly Mathematicians.

Now I have started Chapter 2.6, which is titled: "Limits: A Rigorous Approach." Now I don't know whether any of my math or physics studies have been rigorous, but given my situation I do what I can. There's a kind of dark thrill about "rigorous," almost an S&M tinge of mathematical bondage and discipline. This chapter will introduce me to some of the customs and ways of the mathematical scene. It uses Greek letters, which so far I have understood mostly in the context of Greek language. I know that "epsilon" means "a very small quantity" because I read about it in Paul Hoffman's wonderful biography of the great mathematician Paul Erdos, The Man Who Loved Only Numbers. Erdos used to refer to children as "epsilons" because they were small. Chapter 2.6 also uses a small "d" or delta. Big "D," the triangular delta, is already somewhat familiar to me and will appear in the next chapter about derivatives and differentiation.

The book refers to the Rigorous Approach chapter as "optional." Does that mean that the students in a calculus course skipped it? Or did the professor assign it if there was time? Will I need it later on? I will read through the chapter and try to follow the material anyway, with the comforting thoughts that I do not have to assimilate this all at once, that there will not be a test, and that my future physics career in another universe does not depend on it. There are problems for this chapter, too, and I'll try to solve them if I get through the Rigorous Approach, but the problems are "optional," too. After all, for me, all of calculus is optional.

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