What is Calculus All About?

Calculus is all about dealing with functions and change.

Everything in math can be represented as a function. Whether it is the surface area of a cylinder, its volume, or area of a square, it can be all represented by Calculus.

It is safe to say that everything you learn up to Algebra 2 is leading up to Calculus. Invented by Sir Isaac Newton and William Gottfried Leibniz Calculus is the math of change.

Consider any function that’s quadratic, or more than 2nd degree, the function could be an inverse function, it could be logarithmic function, what ever. If the function is curved, mathematicians are faced with the challenge of finding the derivative of a function – in simple terms its slope, which shows the rate of change of that function and the area under the curve of that function – simply the anti-derivative found through integration.

The whole meat of calculus lies in the limit process. The limit process sets the ground rules for finding the area and the slope of any function. The limit process is the making of a calculus. The limit of anything that is changing can be found if you get smaller and smaller to infinity and find the function. This is where the limit process comes in.

You can get complex with the applications of calculus in Engineering courses, or Physics courses. These are places where you extensively apply the theory of Calculus. It is advisable that few years of Calculus be taken before getting into these courses, simply because it takes a lot of getting used to Calculus before you can be successful at the courses. It will also be an amazing observation that most of the concepts of physics and other math-based sciences are developed by the same people who invented Calculus, or worked with it a lot.

A few popular names such as Sir Isaac Newton – invented basics of physics and Newton’ Laws; and Albert Einstein – theory of relativity and other major cosmological research – come to mind.

Now-a-days Calculus is applied in all types of Engineering and Computer Science and all fields requiring design. It is easy to use if you are well versed in Algebra and all the basic Mathematics from K-12, or up to Algebra 2.

In a nut-shell, Calculus makes life simple at the expense of extensive Algebra!