Bethel University - Spire Yearbook (St Paul, MN)

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 Mathematics

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You say to yourself, can any good come out of the math department? After all, what value is it to a person to be able to solve a third degree linear differential equation, or for that matter even a double integral? And why in the world do we have to take a math test (in the SAT) when we are trying to get into college? The overwhelming evidence is that math is considered by many people to be an integral part of our education. But what can it offer that other disciplines, such as English, social scinccs, speech, etc. can't? Look at it this way: the departments of verbal communication (English, speech, drama) enable us to speak about qualitative ideas. We learn how to construct sentences and organize our thoughts about history, sociology, psychology, etc., but if we don't have a language in which to speak about quantitative ideas, we are lost when we get to problems like balancing our checkbooks, computing the nations GNP, statistically analyzing test results, or deciding how much thrust to put on a missle to get it where we want it to go. So then is mathematics just a servant to the other disciplines? No, math has its own unique and important area of study. The mathematician can be viewed as an artist who assembles various elements from his environment into new ideas, theroems, and postulates. As we go higher in the level of mathematical understanding, we progress to higher and higher levels of abstraction. When we first learned to add it was two apples plus three apples equals five apples, but as we became more sophisticated in our understanding we forgot the apples and just said two plus three equals five. We were thus using math as a language to describe our quantitative ideas, not merely to explain our physical environment. What kind of person, then, is a math major? It is quite clear that an important qualification is to be able to think abstractly. Mathematics as a very pure science requires its students many times to forget about the real world and just think in terms of numbers and relations governing these numbers. The math department at Bethel is geared mainly toward education in the Jr. High and High School spheres. However, with a Bethel math degree one can also go on to graduate school or seminary, or with a little extra training secure a position in such areas as industrial mathematics, actuarial science, or computer programming. Maricllen Jacobson . . ’ r i think rr HEY U rtAT 3 A NAME F Mi Logarithm? oud lumber camp folk tune. fOH ! I Ttoo««r M tvae it lms a 6RC 0TH CYCLE IN TREFS-.. Mathematics

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The diversity of sound: Come Thou Long Expected Jesus, born to LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT! Hold your candle up, don't trip on the stairs, and above all, don't set the hair of the person in front of you on fire. Thus, the sounds of a typical Festival of Christmas rehearsal. Music House A is a prime practice spot. If you happen to be fortunate enough to get the kitchen for a practice room, you get one of the better pianos and a lot of company. You may sit down to warm up, singing anything from Mr. Mogck's la, la, my, no, ga to Mrs. Fall's hungg-ah or perhaps playing a much loved Hannon excercise for Mr. Thom as, Mrs. Fardig, Mrs. Spilde or Dr. Howell, and be gloriously accompanied by Beethoven's Appassionato Sonata in the living room and Dvorak's Biblical Songs in one of the upstairs bedrooms — a truly eclectic experience. In Spring the practice rooms are invaded by Freshmen theoriticians stepping out for the first time into the realm of creativity, toiling (sometimes fruitlessly) at an original composition for Dr. Howell and Theory I. The Music library is one of the more beloved hideaways for the dedicated musician. Not infrequently you may witness some Junior, complete with earphones, conducting his class assignment — a Renaissance Motet, audible to no one save himself — trying desparatcly to push his hand through imaginary water, to beat beats, not notes, and to look like the music sounds: Music should never be static! Or, there may be a group of instrumental conductors gathered around a table conducting Schubert's Unfinished , carefully avoiding poking someone's arm with his baton while cueing the cellos. Monday and Wednesday are the typical nights for Dr. Smith's students' long vigils before Music History tests or Music Literature reports. Cramming all existing knowledge about Musica ficta, Francesco Landini and his cadence, and the Burgundian school, or writing all about Romantic German opera in one night is certainly no easy task. Mrs. Lewis, was Igor Stravinsky a Baroque composer? At 4:30 daily, both Music Library and practice hours are abandoned for the College Building, Sem. Hall or the New Sem. Chapel, the rehearsal locations and second homes of members of performing organizations. In room 106 the band, directed by Mr. Whitinger prepares for performance. Whether it is Tschaikowsky's 4th Symphony or the theme from Hogan's Heroes , the band plays it well. Tour this year takes the band to far and previously unkown territory — Colorado. Finally away from the Midwest! Not that I have anything against Iowa ... Dr. Berglund's Don't let the long notes die! and Make a line out of it arc familiar sounds in the cars of College Choir members, preparing for their Pacific Northwest journey. Di. Smith's Male Chorus having completed a successful and rewarding European tour last summer, presses onward preparing for this year's performances with continuous requests to Watch your diction, men. The treble voices of the Women's Choir can be heard throughout the College Building as Mr. Mogck Stresses Beautiful singing and gets results. One common goal unifies these three groups — that of communication. It is echoed in pre-concert prayer times and in devotions. Lord, let Your love shine through us. May we communicate Your message to those to whom we minister. This, in essence, is the goal of the Bethel music department. We become good musicians, we strive for excellence, we work diligently so that ultimately God will be glorified through us and what we achieve. We are truly filled — aesthetically, spiritually. Make a joyful noise! Lynnette Port