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 escape velocity of a rocket
Skills You'll Learn
logic, Mathematics, Calculus
Reviews
Exceptional course. Fantastic explaining by Professor Easdown, I wish more teachers were as clear as he is, and as kind and thoughtful towards their students. Many, many thanks in case you see this.
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!
This fifth and final module introduces integral calculus, looking at the slopes of tangent lines and areas under curves. This leads to the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus. We explore the use of areas under velocity curves to estimate displacement, using averages of lower and upper rectangular approximations. We then look at limits of approximations, to discover the formula for the area of a circle and the area under a parabola. We then develop methods for capturing precisely areas under curves, using Riemann sums and the definite integral. The module then introduces indefinite integrals and the method of integration by substitution. Finally, we discuss properties of odd and even functions, related to rotational and reflectional symmetry, and the logistic function, which modifies exponential growth.
Taught By
David Easdown
Associate Professor
Explore our Catalog
Join for free and get personalized recommendations, updates and offers.
Coursera Footer
