If a person can do calculus, does that mean they're smart?

It means you can do calculus.

Humanities courses on topics like BLM and gender issues are the most challenging.

Smarter than avg idiots in this country. We have so many of them here.

Getting to the level of doing Calculus requires a decent level of work and some level of smarts. You could argue that a lot of that is nurture vs. nature. Some capable of doing Calculus will never go to college or get to that in HS. Some not so smart people are given lots of opportunity in life and get to this level. But a very low IQ person probably could never do it because it is a somewhat abstract concept to learn.

i thought cal 1 was very logical and not that hard. i am not a memorizing sort and it seemed straightforward to me. i found linear algebra and geometry harder. harder calculations, easier to mess up, more formulas and such to memorize.

Depends on who you ask. Most people intending to do graduate work in mathematics will find calc 1 child's play. A hack like me finds it challenging (though enjoyable), and I would say anybody who can master it is pretty smart.

It also depends on the teacher.

Only a semester?

High school calculus is geared towards calculation and this material is accessible to people of regular intelligence. Compare a high school calculus textbook with a college one. The college book presents the same topic but doesn't bother to hide as much of the math. This requires the student to leave common sense and take a step into the math world.

Math is intimidating because popular culture romances it as truth obtained over millennia by passionate people. That's history, aesthetics, and entertainment not math. Math is a game with rules that have evolved over time often with practical motivations rather than concerns about truth. There's a lot of football changing the rules to protect the quarterback because fans like the passing game.

Calculus is the big example of some math that was created for practical purposes (calculations for physics) rather than the pursuit of truth. This practicality is seen throughout calculus. The definition of limit that confuses a lot of people is not a meaningful definition. It doesn't say what a limit is. It's an imperative in the form of an operational definition - a limit shall be what does this. It's unsatisfying if one expects truth or justification. But some people will get that it's really just another rule and go along with it.

College calculus is not very complicated or profound. It's just very different. It can be off-putting because it's nonsense, an abstraction that only exists in the mind though it has its uses. Someone who goes to a very good high school will be exposed to this distinction before college. On the other hand I signed up for a intro design class in college because I could draw pretty good and this nice dude handed out an assignment that just consisted of messing around with colors and shapes. This silliness offended me and I dropped the class. That assignment is what college calculus is like.

You need to be prepared (have a solid math background) to do well in calculus. If you have that or simply are good at math, its not so bad. If you are not good at math and/or ill-prepared...good luck.

Also, generally in college

Calc 1- not that hard if reasonable background.

Calc 2- very hard.

Calc 3 (MV)- hard, but not as hard as Calc 2. Esp if you understood Calc 2.

DiffEq- very hard but if you made it that far you'll probably figure it out.

Linear- hard for some, easy for others.

I'd say more disciplined than smart. There are a lot more fun things to do than math for most people these days. It takes discipline to choose to sit and do math problems with a pencil and paper when you have a phone and TV with youtube, tiktok, IG and all that distraction. But for most who are willing and able to make that choice, they can do it.

You nailed it. I took this exact sequence in engineering school (1979-1983) and agree with relative difficulties. Linear Algebra was not difficult for me and they called MV Calculus Vector Calcus at my school and that one was difficult for me. I was not the smartest guy in town but it was all very doable.

Failed pre-calc. Aced 2nd time.

Failed calc1 Aced 2ndtime.

Then for some blizzard reason something clicked and aced Calc2, Cal3 , diffyQ and linear.

I'm not the sharpest tool in the box. I have to have something explained 2-3 times. But after that I never forget. Its weird.I could be a surgeon if ya just took me to the OR and showed me the procedure. But book wise I'd never make it.

Another way to look at calc is its like learning a language. It takes time and practice/patience.Just like running.

It means you are a calculoser.

If we're measuring intelligence, calculus 1 is equal to fluency in two languages, calculus 2 is equal to fluency in three languages, etc.

True! It is really hard to abandon your morals in order to appease a corrupt professor and get a good grade. Most intelligent people would not be willing to do that, but the smartest ones take the plunge, and they end up making the most money. Lotta money in deceit.

calculus is easy to do well at, because you just need to learn to differentiate and integrate, mainly. And what they mean and how to set them up. You do them a million times eventually so it becomes second nature.

Move on to theoretical courses and it's all proving or disproving stuff, proving a solution exists even if you can't find it, searching for the zillionth prime, calculating pi, e, other famous numbers a million different ways, groups other than the usual number sets, and stuff that has no practical use. That's much harder to practice and gets annoying.

Three tries it took me to pass calculus just barely. Several engineers I asked said they rarely used it; I have never needed it since college, but I used basic algebra and geometry constantly and coworkers often came to me to solve problems involving those maths.