Take it to the limit one more time – a history of calculus 0

In the first half of the 1980s I studied mathematics, as a mature student, at the University of Erlangen. In those days a first degree at a German university was a master’s complete with dissertation. In mathematics this was called a diploma and the usual period of study was eight to nine semesters of four to four and a half years. A fair percentage of students took longer. The ground courses in mathematics, leading up to the first set of serious exams, was four semesters long and consisted of double lectures, totalling ninety minutes, four days a week–two day analysis and two days algebra. A double lecture generated eight to ten A4 pages of notes, it was a hard slog. There were exercise sheets each week for each course with afternoon sessions to analyse and correct them. After the first two semesters there were also seminars on more detailed topics, where we were required to prepare and hold a paper. I enjoyed the analysis not so much the algebra. I was required to have a subsidiary…