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I am currently hearing math at my university in germany and it is always difficult for me to translate the german topics into english.

We are talking about limits , sequences and series "quantities?", limes, triangle inequality , Cauchy etc. What subject would you guess am I hearing?

In germany we call this "analysis" but could it be possible that this is called precalculus in english?

http://www.khanacademy.org/math/precalculus/ At least those topics look familiar.

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    If you have a link to a homepage for the course you are doing....2012-11-11
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    Limes? Like in that song "[*She put the lime in the coconut...*](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LxC3M-Yngs)"? :-)2012-11-11
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    Well I don't think that this would help you but here it is :) http://www.uni-koblenz-landau.de/koblenz/fb3/mathe/mitglieder/goetz/lehre/anaws12 @AsafKaragila could also be called "lim" ;D2012-11-11
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    @AsafKaragila Limes/Grenzwert is German for "limit". I attended university in Germany as well and I think the course translates to "real analysis". Precalculus, in my opinion, implies less rigour.2012-11-11
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    @Cocopuffs: Oh. Well, note that the lime in the coconut is the limit of human capability to mix things in a Harry Nilsson song. :-)2012-11-11
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    Just FYI, in English you study a subject or take a course, but you never "hear" it.2012-11-12
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    "limes" is a rather widespread term for "limit" in some places, stemming perhaps from the difficulty to say "limit" and actually thinking of the mathematical term. Just like we in Israel usually say $\,zet\,$ to mean the english letter $\,z\,$, whose official name is $\,zee\,$...just to distinguish it from $\,c\,$, I guess...2012-11-12
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    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limes2012-11-12

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I checked out your link to the course, and I think you're taking a class on Analysis. That's what we call it in English too.

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    Okay thanks, I like to watch videos at http://www.khanacademy.org/ and I was just curious because the topic "analysis" is not listed there. But precalculus is probably my best bet :)2012-11-11
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    Actually I doubt that the precalculus videos on Khan Academy are very relevant to what you're learning. I heard these analysis [video lectures](http://www.youtube.com/user/Learnstream) from Harvey Mudd were good.2012-11-11
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    It's odd, though. If you look at the problem sets, half of the questions are the kind of analysis US universities don't do until after they've introduced Calculus, and half of the questions are high-school algebra, very definitely precalculus.2012-11-12
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The source of confusion here is probably in the US system of education, where a rigorous Analysis class is usually preceded by a computationally oriented Calculus course (without much attention to proofs). The distinction between the two is rather artificial and depends mostly on the level of rigor (that is why, e.g., Spivak's Calculus is called by many "introduction to analysis") I am not sure about the German system, but in Russia, e.g., there are no usually two different courses. The concepts of limits, derivative and integral are discussed in the first course, which is called, somewhat ironically, Mathematical Analysis (or Differential and Integral Calculus). I suspect it is quite close to the German system.

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If you are discussing limits, the chances are that Calculus is not far away. If you get to differentiation and integration, then that settles it --- you are studying Calculus.

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    Is there a chance to study "analysis" if limits, differentiation and integration are discussed?2012-11-11
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    In the English-speaking countries with which I am familiar, "analysis" is usually reserved for a course student might take in the third year, after they have done several semesters of Calculus. I know in Germany it is different, and what is called analysis there may start with what is called Calculus in (say) the US.2012-11-12
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wikipedia confuses me:

Calculus (Latin, calculus, a small stone used for counting) is a branch of mathematics focused on limits, functions, derivatives, integrals, and infinite series.

Mathematical analysis is a branch of pure mathematics that includes the theories of differentiation, integration and measure, limits, infinite series,1 and analytic functions.

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    Calculus is often considered to be the computational/mechanical aspects of these theories, while analysis explores their foundations and properties. That's just the one-sentence version of how they differ, in reality there is much overlap, much of the distinction coming from how they are taught in an undergraduate curriculum.2012-11-12
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    @Ed Gorcenski. Thanks for the additional explanation. The books I know are called calculus when they are introductory and analysis when more advanced. You may be right, that for "simple" calculus more computational examples are added.2012-11-12
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    Basic calculus classes also tend to avoid nasty problems, things that require special care or consideration. Analysis classes tend to plow headlong into them.2012-11-12