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Download : Calculus Better Explained - Kalid Azad
So.
. . What Can I Do With Calculus?
It
depends. What can you do with arithmetic? Technically, we don’t
need numbers. Our caveman ancestors did fine (well, for some version
of “fine”). But having an idea of quantity makes the world a lot
easier. You don’t have a “big” and “small” pile of rocks:
you have an exact count. You don’t need to describe your mood as
“good” or “great” – you can explain your mood from 1 to 10.
Arithmetic
provides universal metaphors that go beyond computation, and once
seen, they’re difficult to give up. Calculus is similar: it’s a
step-by-step view of the world. Do we need X-Ray and Time Lapse
vision all the time? Nope. But they’re nice perspectives to “turn
on” when we face a puzzling situation. What steps got us here?
What’s the next thing that will happen? Where does our future path
lead? There are specific rules to calculus, just like there are rules
to arithmetic.
And
they’re quite useful when you’re cranking through an equation.
But don’t forget there are general notions of “quantity” and
“step-by-step thinking” that we can bring everywhere. Our primary
goal is to feel what a calculus perspective is like (What Would
Archimedes Do?). Over time, we’ll work up to using the specific
rules ourselves.
