Do Americans have calculus in HS ?

Just a random question which flew in my head as I was watching some video on youtube. I am not entirely sure what ''calculus'' is there, but do Americans have stuff like limits, integrals and derivatives as mandatory lessons in HS ?

I'm not sure about the US, but we do in Canada.

Not all HS kids are required to take it, but there are Calculus courses offered at the high school level in the United States.
 
EDIT: After reading your question at the end, instead of just the topic and the first sentence. No the courses are NOT mandatory, but they are available for students who have an...aptitude toward somewhat higher level mathematics.

Not sure. I am fairly certain we have integrals and limits in High School.

(I haven't done High School level work for around 3-4 years so I don't remember if we had that. I may be confusing it with my college calculus class)

Yeah. It's usually an upper level, optional thing for the smart kids though. I took it.

Yes, I distinctly remember avoiding a class by the name of Calculus in high school.

yup

It was offered, but I didn't take it. I got as far as advanced algebra and trigonometry.

Yes, I took it, we aren't idiots

It depends on the district and the school. My HS requires at least 4 years of math now and almost everyone starts at Algebra so they take it up to Trig while the advanced students take AP Calc. OR that was how it was when I graduated.

Yeah but its only for NERDS! lol in all seriousness though i took per-calculus in 11th grade and decided not to take any more math in 12th. At my high school they offered calculus, trigonometry and statistics.

Yes. I took BC Calculus my Junior year of high school.

Mandatory for all students? No, that would be cruel.

At my high school, you were required to take either trigonometry or calculus.

As many have said it isn't Mandatory. Most high schools require 3 years of math, and HIGHLY push you to take 4.

In my NJ public High School, the base math track was Algebra, Geometry, Algebry 2, Pre-Calc. Myself along with other students were in advanced math classes since Elementary School and started ahead at either Geometry or Algebra 2 and reached either 1 or 2 years of Calculus in High School. I'd say

Yes we do.

Yea, I had it in my senior year.

Not mandatory. In my high school, you needed three years of math, so most people took Algebra I and II, and Geometry. 
I could have taken it my senior year, but wussed out and took Statistics. I immediately regretted that decision it in college.

Is it wrong that I find it hard to respect anyone who hasn't studied calculus?

@Dany said:

It depends on the district and the school. My HS requires at least 4 years of math now and almost everyone starts at Algebra so they take it up to Trig while the advanced students take AP Calc. OR that was how it was when I graduated.

Not mandatory, only for the students with high enough aptitude to benefit from it.

@penINC said:

Is it wrong that I find it hard to respect anyone who hasn't studied calculus?

While calculus is definitely useful it's not necessary in a lot of productive fields and there's plenty of people who took calc in high school and are doing jack shit with it in their lives.

@penINC: Absolutely. You're going to Hell, no questions asked!

Yep. I took it.

My HS offered AB and BC calculus.

Basically, if you didnt jump to algebra by the time you're finishing middle school, you will finish HS with pre-calculus.

Yup, we do. I took AP Calc in my senior year.

Not mandatory. In my high school, you needed three years of math, so most people took Algebra I and II, and Geometry.

Calculus was offered at my school but I passed. I already had enough of math by my Senior year.

I took it my senior year, understood pretty much all of it. If you sat me down with a list of problems today however, I might shit my pants then use it as an excuse to not do them.

Its amazing how fast you can forget somewhat complicated math when you don't use it for a while.

OMG! ALL YOU GUYZ ARE SO smart comp;areddd to me! 
 
Seriously though, I graduated with no calculus and only bare bones algebra under my belt. I took...*gasp* applied math...by DISTANCE EDUCATION!

@penINC said:

Is it wrong that I find it hard to respect anyone who hasn't studied calculus?

Depends, when given an optional choice instead of calculus I took Chinese. So you tell me which is harder or demands more respect.

@Spotshadow said:

@penINC said:

Is it wrong that I find it hard to respect anyone who hasn't studied calculus?

Depends, when given an optional choice instead of calculus I took Chinese. So you tell me which is harder or demands more respect.

That's comparing Apples to Oranges. I don't care what they say about language uses the same part of the brain as mathematics, I still think that some will find language to be easier than calculus and vice versa. But they both have something in common: they require a lot of practice to become proficient.

But on the topic wise, it was optional. Though if you need to get into University, they normally want you to have it anyways which is why I took it. I haven't really used a lot of my high school math in years though.

its not necessary in high school to take calc. in my school there was a slow track of math and a faster track for smarter people. i took calculus by the end of high school, and the slower track at least to pre-calc

so yea basically theres calculus here haha

@MrBLT said:

@Spotshadow said:

@penINC said:

Is it wrong that I find it hard to respect anyone who hasn't studied calculus?

Depends, when given an optional choice instead of calculus I took Chinese. So you tell me which is harder or demands more respect.

That's comparing Apples to Oranges. I don't care what they say about language uses the same part of the brain as mathematics, I still think that some will find language to be easier than calculus and vice versa. But they both have something in common: they require a lot of practice to become proficient.

But on the topic wise, it was optional. Though if you need to get into University, they normally want you to have it anyways which is why I took it. I haven't really used a lot of my high school math in years though.

Wait, are you seriously comparing learning Chinese to calculus? Calculus isn't even that hard, what is with you people.

Not necessarily. We have AP AB (or was it BC?) Calc. here, but there's still a fair chunk of people that took Pre-Calc their senior year (myself-included) and are going into fields that require higher mathematics.  
 
I still think it's unnecessary unless you want to go into a strictly mathematics degree, and even then it isn't really too high a priority if you're good enough to keep up in class with the people that took the stuff a year before you.  I felt like I had a better grasp on basic differential calc. from my academic decathlon stuff (hell yeah) than some of the AP Calc kids. 

At my high school no calculus courses were required but they were offered. The first was pre-calculus, which anyone could take if they took a math class all four years that covered the basics of limits, integrals, and derivatives. If you chose to take two math classes one year or Algebra I in middle school, then you could take calculus your senior year without ever having to double up on math classes.

Kind of. My high school offered Pre-Cal to those with good enough math grades and you could choose to take AP Calculus for a college credit. There wasn't a regular Calculus class though.

My high school was terrible though so I don't know if that's the norm.

Yes. My HS has Algebra 1 to Calc and maybe more.

@SurferZ said:

In my NJ public High School, the base math track was Algebra, Geometry, Algebry 2, Pre-Calc. Myself along with other students were in advanced math classes since Elementary School and started ahead at either Geometry or Algebra 2 and reached either 1 or 2 years of Calculus in High School. I'd say <25% made it to Calculus.

Yeah, this was how my school was.

@penINC said:

Is it wrong that I find it hard to respect anyone who hasn't studied calculus?

Yep.

Not standard, but I think most school at least go up to Precalculus. In my HS you would be put into an Intro class if you had high grades. A summer calc class was also offered to graduates heading into college.

yes, they offer it in high school. it's not mandatory to take it. i took algebra my high school years.

At my high school it wasn't required, but you could take it if you wanted to.

It is not required, only advanced students take it, but "Pre-Calculus" is a standard course that is usually taken senior year.

They offered it where I went but 'twas too stupid for it. I went with pre-cal. Went straight to Calculus my first year at college and got royally raped. Makes me wonder why I'm doing a math intensive major if I'm generally terrible at it. I do like algebra to an extent though...

@penINC said:

Is it wrong that I find it hard to respect anyone who hasn't studied calculus?

Actually, that does make you a terrible person. I dislike academic elitists.

I took calculus in high school but it wasn't mandatory.  
 
EDIT: I'm in the US. California specifically.

@CaptainCody said:

@MrBLT said:

@Spotshadow said:

@penINC said:

Is it wrong that I find it hard to respect anyone who hasn't studied calculus?

Depends, when given an optional choice instead of calculus I took Chinese. So you tell me which is harder or demands more respect.

That's comparing Apples to Oranges. I don't care what they say about language uses the same part of the brain as mathematics, I still think that some will find language to be easier than calculus and vice versa. But they both have something in common: they require a lot of practice to become proficient.

But on the topic wise, it was optional. Though if you need to get into University, they normally want you to have it anyways which is why I took it. I haven't really used a lot of my high school math in years though.

Wait, are you seriously comparing learning Chinese to calculus? Calculus isn't even that hard, what is with you people.

And it's not. There's much harder maths out than Calculus.

@penINC said:

Is it wrong that I find it hard to respect anyone who hasn't studied calculus?

Nah, that just makes you a NERD! NEERRRRRRDDDD!

My school offered pre-calculus and calculus. The former is mandatory and the latter is optional. I'm good at math up until calculus. Fuck that shit.