sad news

Louis Leithold died a few weeks ago. He was 80 years old. For those who don't know him, he wrote The Calculus, one of the most (if not the most) widely used textbook in universities and high schools worldwide. (news snagged from Kerwin's site) We used The Calculus with Algebra and Geometry (nicknamed TCWAG, pronounced as T-C-wag) back in high school. I encountered Pareng Louis again during college, while I was still taking up Math and our standard textbook was The Calculus with the weird space-inspired cover design. I think it's the seventh edition, but I'm not sure. I have to check our book shelves.

Yes, I still have it. It's the only Math-related book I kept (I think) after shifting out of BS Math. I didn't want to throw the book away (the idea is too horrible) or sell it to the lowerclassmen. I figured it was one of those books that might come in handy in the future. Who knows, if I'm bored, maybe I'll crack it open and try to study it again. Or maybe if I'm bored and desperate.

Oops. Am I disrespecting the dead? Sorry. Anyway, may God bless his soul. He's probably enjoying Math Heaven, drinking (what do mathematicians drink, anyway? Coffee? Tea? Beer? Wine?) whatever and talking with other geniuses like Fermat, Pythagoras and Nash (if he's not in the Economics Heaven, that is).