The focus and themes of the Introduction to Calculus course address the most important foundations for applications of mathematics in science, engineering and commerce. The course emphasises the key ideas and historical motivation for calculus, while at the same time striking a balance between theory and application, leading to a mastery of key threshold concepts in foundational mathematics. Students taking Introduction to Calculus will: • gain familiarity with key ideas of precalculus, including the manipulation of equations and elementary functions (first two weeks), • develop fluency with the preliminary methodology of tangents and limits, and the definition of a derivative (third week), • develop and practice methods of differential calculus with applications (fourth week), • develop and practice methods of the integral calculus (fifth week).
The derivative as a limit
Skills You'll Learn
logic, Mathematics, Calculus
Reviews
4.8 (2,568 ratings)
Dec 12, 2020
Best instructor. Made calculus very approachable connecting topics, illustrating applications, and his enthusiasm (which is contagious). Wish he'd do follow-up courses for more advanced mathematics.
Nov 29, 2020
This is an amazing course. I loved the way the instructor used classic examples to explain calculus by helping us approach problems from the perspectives of Newton, Leibniz, and the ancient greeks!
From the lesson
Introducing the differential calculus
This module introduces techniques of differential calculus. We look at average rates of change which become instantaneous, as time intervals become vanishingly small, leading to the notion of a derivative. We then explore techniques involving differentials that exploit tangent lines. The module introduces Leibniz notation and shows how to use it to get information easily about the derivative of a function and how to apply it.
Taught By
David Easdown
Associate Professor
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