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LESSON 1

Learning of Calculus



LEARNING OUTCOMES

Upon the completion of this lesson, you should be able to:
a) briefly describe the evolvement of calculus from the historical perspective
b) discuss the rationale in learning calculus
c) Give examples in the usage of calculus .

What is Calculus?
Latin refers calculus as a stone and the stones used for counting and arithmetic by the ancient
Romans. Basically, calculus is a form of counting. Above all, calculus is used for solving
complex problems that cannot be solved by regular mathematics.
History of Calculus
In the 17
th
century, Isaac Newton (1642-1727) and Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716), discovered
and independently developed the foundations of calculus. Controversy about which man reached
his conclusion first occurred between Leibniz and Newton for decades, whereby Leibniz
published his findings twenty years earlier and invented it ten years later than Newton. However,
their differ thought of the fundamental concepts is significant. While Newton considered
variables changing with time, Leibniz thought of the variables x and y as ranging over sequences
of infinitely close values. He introduced dx and dy as differences between successive values of
these sequences. Leibniz knew that dy/dx gives the tangent but he did not use it as a defining
property. On the other hand, Newton used quantities x' and y', which were finite velocities, to
compute the tangent. Despite of their differences in thought, Leibniz and Newton always thought

x and y in terms of graph. Newton view calculus as geometrical while Leibniz perceived it
towards analysis.
Two Branches of Calculus
Leibniz and Newton classified science calculus as two major branches namely Differential
calculus and Integral calculus. Differential calculus of science or differentiation is used to
calculate the slope or steepness of a curve, also known as a curves derivative. Slope is a rate of
change in a curve a very steep curve is changing very fast and calculus is used when a curve
is very complicated, such as calculating the slope of a mountain or the speed of a roller coaster.
Integral calculus of science or integration involves the calculation of areas and volumes of
complex figures. To find the greatest amount of space or volume beneath a dome in a stadium
design in order to incorporate as many seats as possible. Integration helps us to find the area
beneath a curve, whereby it breaks the area beneath the curve into minute pieces, determines the
area of each pieces, and adds them all together, or integrates them, into a final answer. Besides
that, integration is used to determine the exact volume of water necessary to fill a wading pool in
a zoo exhibit. By using the infinite sums that integration calculates, it would be easier to
determine how much water is needed to fill in the varying depths and irregular edges of the pool.

Despite of developing the same science, both Leibniz and Sir Isaac Newton started from two
different ends or different view points. Initially, Newton started with differential calculus
whereas Leibniz started with using Integrals. Calculus is referred to as analysis, thus, considered
the advanced study of functions in higher mathematics. However, the study of calculus does
involve the aspect of irregularity and change, and the respective changes in the environmental
aspects owing to these irregularities.
In the literature, Leibniz was aware of the importance of good notation and put a lot of thought
into the symbols he used as compare to Newton, who used whatever notation he thought of on
that day. Hence, Leibnizs notation has a major contribution to generalizing calculus to multiple
variables and in addition it highlighted the operator aspect of derivative and integral. However,
in todays literature, both men have independently developed calculus.
So, what is calculus? Calculus is the mathematics of change, of calculating problems that are
continually evolving. Problems break into infinitesimal steps, solving each of those steps, and
adding all the results. Calculus is the study of change involves concurrent computations that
involve the study of limits, derivatives, integrals, and infinite series.

What Is Calculus Used For? Why should we study Calculus?
Calculus derives on algebra, trigonometry and analytic geometry. It has been extensively used in
science and engineering, thus, contributes to a wide variety of careers. How is Integral calculus
contributed to our daily life?

We use Integration to calculate the areas of non-geometric figures. For an example, by using
integration, you can determine the area covered by the spilled water on the floor. Calculus adds
each of the area of the tiny non-geometric figures and gives you the approximate answer.

Consider the movement of a car on a highway. Here we can clearly visualize that if the highway
is clear the driver would look forward to increase the speed to an optimum
level after which he will drive with the same speed. We can approximate the cars acceleration
using calculus by referring to the cars initial speed and the speed when he settled. Acceleration,
as we have learnt is therefore defined as the first order derivative of velocity, which in turn is the
first order derivative of displacement.

The examples that follow provide insights on the commonly use of calculus in the professional
fields.








Example 1

Newton put the application of calculus in physics. So consider this basic calculus problem: A
projectile is shot downwards at 30m/s in a vacuum (ignore air resistance) if the acceleration of
gravity is 9.8m/s
2
, what is its instantaneous velocity at t=3seconds. In physics, calculus is used to
determine advanced problems related to vector fields and wave functions. Additionally,
chemistry and biology use calculus to measure accurately the speed of reactions, since products
and reactants are being consumed in the process (as well as temperature and etc).

Example 2

Calculus helps credit card companies to set the minimum payments due on credit card statements
at the exact time the statement is processed by considering multiple variables such as changing
interest rates and a fluctuating available balance.

Example 3

Differential calculus helps biologists to calculate the exact rate of growth in a bacterial culture by
considering change s in different variables namely temperature and food source. This research
can help increase the rate of growth of necessary bacteria, or decrease the rate of growth for
harmful and potentially threatening bacteria.

Example 4

Calculus helps an electrical engineer to estimate an accurate figure of the length of power cable
needed to connect two substations that are miles apart and constantly curving.

Example 5

Integration also guides an architect to calculate the amount of materials necessary to build a
curved dome over a new sports arena and determine the weight of that dome and the type of
support structure required.

Example 6

Calculus is useful to space flight engineers in planning lengthy missions. Calculus allows each of
those variables such as the different orbiting velocities of the Earth, the planet the probe is
targeted for, and other gravitational influences like the sun and the moon before launching an
exploratory probe.

Example 7

Calculus helps business statisticians to evaluate, plan and predict appropriate action of a survey
data that involves many different questions with a range of possible answer.

Example 8

In a vehicle safety designation, a physicist uses calculus to determine the center of mass of a
sports utility vehicle by considering factors such as road surfaces and speeds.

Example 9

In a manufacturing corporation, an operations research uses calculus to observe different
processes depending on different variables to improve operating efficiency, increase production
and raise profits.

Example 10

In arts, a graphics artist put calculus into application in designing a realistic environment by
determining the behavior of the rapidly changing conditions of the different three-dimensional
models.

Example 11

In economic fields, the financial operation refers to calculus for forecasting and predictions.

Example 12
Calculus helps electrical engineers to optimize the processing power of the CPU. City planners
and surveyors use Calculus to find the exact areas of irregular regions of land.

The examples of the application of calculus which range from university to military, from
airlines to software companies, and government agencies evidently offer significant
contributions of calculus to our daily lives.
Learning calculus can be rewarding. Calculus uses to create technologies such as cars, cell
phones, computers, etc. and it helps us to describe the motions of our surroundings. Math
educators nowadays should instill calculus as a useful subject in their teaching and consider it to
be the source of todays modern world.
When we first study Calculus we often learn its concepts in an order that is somewhat backwards
to its development. This module is our platform to deliver the hundreds of years of thought about
calculus. As a result, we first learn about limits. Then, we define the derivative and integral as
developed by Newton and Leibniz in a modern way. Later, we will discuss the applications of
derivative and integral that use to solve many of the problems triggered the development of
Calculus. However, before we discuss about calculus learning, the fundamentals prerequisite of
this course, namely functions will be reviewed.















Activity 1

In your own words, briefly describe why you need calculus and give examples to illustarte your
points.
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Activity 2

Briefly in your own words, describe what type or topic of calculus you have learnt during your
school days or college days? Give examples to illustarte your points.

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