edX Calculus versus Distance Calculus

edX is a consortium of various universities (Harvard University, MIT, Boston University, University of Texas, University of California, Berkeley, et al) where their various online course offerings are presented together in one central location for students to find courses to take online.

The Calculus I course from edX is actually the MITx Calculus I course, from MIT's very impressive OpenCourseWare project.

Can you get academic credits for this edX Calculus I (MITx in disguise) course? It costs $225.

This question is very very murky. There are various pages on edX site that suggests credit is available, and that you can "purchase academic credits" but it is not clear if you do this after you finish your course, or before, or .... To our knowledge, none of the courses in MIT's OpenCourseware project offer real academic credits.

Other pages on edX.org suggest the "certificate" awarding for $100 for completion of these courses. compare edx to distance calculus

A "certificate" with the instructor's signature is certainly not the same as accredited, transferable academic credits!

As far as we can tell, you cannot earn real, transferable academic credits by taking an edX/MITx Calculus course.

Earning Real Academic Credits for Calculus

Applied Calculus vs Calculus I

Distance Calculus - Student Reviews

Date Posted: May 7, 2025
Review by: Chris M.
Student Email: chrismillermd@me.com
Courses Completed: Multivariable Calculus, Differential Equations, Linear Algebra, Probability Theory
Review: I've taken Multivariable Calculus, Linear Algebra, Differential Equations, and Probability Theory through Distance Calculus. All four courses were awesome. Dr. Curtis and the TA's were very responsive and helpful. The biggest advantage of these courses, compared to taking a traditional course, is that in addition to the theory, I was forced to also think computationally. I have become quite adept at using LiveMath and Mathematica for doing calculations and plots. All of the courses were accepted for credit transfer (Johns Hopkins University)
Transferred Credits to: Johns Hopkins University

Date Posted: Dec 20, 2019
Review by: Bill K.
Courses Completed: Calculus I, Calculus II, Multivariable Calculus, Linear Algebra
Review: I took the whole calculus series and Linear Algebra via Distance Calculus. Dr. Curtis spent countless hours messaging back and forth with me, answering every question, no matter how trivial they might seem. Dr. Curtis is extremely responsive, especially if the student is curious and is willing to work hard. I don't think I ever waited much more than a day for Dr. Curtis to get a notebook back to me. Dr. Curtis would also make videos of concepts if I was really lost. The course materials are fantastic. If you are a student sitting on the fence, trying to decide between a normal classroom class or Distance Calculus classes with Livemath and Mathematica, my choice would be the Distance Calculus classes every time. The Distance Calculus classes are more engaging. The visual aspects of the class notebooks are awesome. You get the hand calculation skills you need. The best summary I can give is to say, given the opportunity, I would put my own son's math education in Dr. Curtis's hands.
Transferred Credits to: None

Date Posted: Jan 19, 2020
Review by: Dan P.
Courses Completed: Calculus I, Calculus II
Review: I found the courses to be informative, enjoyable, and most importantly, effective in helping me learn the concepts of calculus. My math skills were always very weak, and I had a great deal of difficulty passing my undergrad math courses. The pace of a traditional classroom setting was just too quick for the concepts to really sink in. With Distance Calculus, I had courses that were taught with the full rigor of an on-campus class, but where I could take my time and really learn the material...all while having access to top-tier instructional help for real math professors and assistants. DC gave me the tools and the confidence I needed, so after successfully passing my DC courses, I moved on and completed a master's degree in CS.

Distance Calculus - Curriculum Exploration

Inequalities & Absolute Value

P11: Inequalities & Absolute Value:

P11.1: 1D Inequalities

P11.2: 2D Inequalities

P11.3: Systems of 2D Inequalities

P11.4: Absolute Value

P11.5: 3D Inequalities

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Catherine M.★★★★★

Posted: Apr 5, 2020

Courses Completed: Calculus I

Calculus I from Distance Calculus was wonderful! I took AB Calculus in high school, but I didn't take the AP Calc exam. Instead I took Calculus I with Distance Calculus, and it was so much better! It was a little review of topics, but not really. I really understood calculus when I finished!

Transferred Credits To: University of Chicago

Anonymous☆☆☆☆☆

Posted: Dec 31, 1969

Julia★★★★★

Posted: Jun 24, 2026

As a full-time business owner completing an Executive MBA, I needed to satisfy a calculus prerequisite without putting my work on hold. Distance Calculus made that possible. The fully self-paced structure let me work early mornings and weekends around an unpredictable schedule, which a fixed-semester classroom course never would have allowed.
The course covered the core business calculus material thoroughly — derivatives, optimization, integration techniques including u-substitution, the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, improper integrals, and numerical methods. The LiveMath computer algebra environment was central to the experience: it forced me to build each step explicitly rather than just arriving at an answer, which actually deepened my understanding of the mechanics.
Communication through the student portal was responsive when I had questions. For working professionals who need a rigorous, accredited calculus course on a flexible timeline, I'd recommend it.

Transferred Credits To: MIT Ebma

Christopher K.★★★★★

Posted: May 19, 2025

Courses Completed: Precalculus, Calculus I

Well organized and well explained content. Professor did a great job. I learned a lot.

Dist Calc saved a ton of hassle and time having to take calc at a local community college, which realistically would have delayed my entrance to BU LEAP by at least a year.

Would strongly recommend it.

Transferred Credits To: Boston University

Lucas L.★★★★★

Posted: Jun 25, 2026

Courses Completed: Multivariable Calculus

The professor as well as the TAs give great feedback when you need help with problems and the videos are great at explaining concepts. Return time on work is good and the work is not too much to handle.

Transferred Credits To: University of Wisconsin

Hari K.★★★★☆

Courses Completed: Linear Algebra

This course gives a perspective on Linear algebra that no traditional course does. I’d say i gained much more intuition for this subject from the DC course than my friends who took traditional courses elsewhere. As a cs major, this version of learning with visualization has helped me a lot in understand ML models. However the course doesn’t have videos for the last 2 chapers so i had to self learn with the mathematica notebooks. Response times are a little slow but since it’s a remote class, i guess it’s justified. Overall amazing course and definitely take this over traditional lin alg classes.