D-WHY? D-X?? MY THOUGHTS ON CALCULUS

For my first post I had thoughts of beginning with one of them fine poetic introductions or anecdotes, I changed my mind. To avoid the whys and why-nots of this decision, I rather prefer to first welcome you to my very awesome, mind intriguing blog; and then to jumping head long into the issue at hand. Akwaaba.

We have heard of Calculus!!! And know from experience that it is something students dread, not just as a course but as a word in itself. It has over the years been stereotyped as a difficult area of study within the student network, and even among the very few ones who ACTUALLY enjoy mathematics.

“Finding ‘D-Y, D-X’, I always disliked it back in secondary school” a comment that reveals one of the numerous ‘calculus-phobic’ comments this legendary course has been subjected to over the years. Please note that the above comment was made by my mum; a smart, highly educated (and I can go on and on with adjectives for her) woman. This is evidence of how calculus is seen by all, whether intelligent like my mother, or not.

Myself, in my initial stages of studies in calculus, made similar remarks that I find ridiculous now. Not to be blamed though, no doubt the thing was quite difficult and the grades did not reflect the intensity of studies at all. It got me questioning why Ghana Education Service, an organization against whom I hold a myriad of grudges, was forcing me into such a useless endeavour. And that was where I had the epiphany (I have wanted to use this word for a long time after hearing it in THE SIMPSONS), ‘what was the purpose for calculus?’ 

As described by almighty Wikipedia, calculus is the mathematical study of change,in the same way that geometry is the study of shape and algebra is the study of operations and their application to solving equations. Its discovery and emergence is accredited mainly to Sir Isaac Newton and Wilhelm Leibniz as a way of calculating the motion of heavenly bodies, a very big issue to mathematicians at that time.

Isaac Newton developed the use of calculus in
his laws of motion and gravitation.

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was the first to publish his results
 on the development of calculus.

For its main application, a derivative is a rate of change, and everything in the world changes as time passes, so derivatives can be very useful. In 1687 Newton published his "three laws of motion," now known as "Newtonian mechanics"; these laws became the basis of physics. We can thus say that any prediction on how an object or quantity is going to change with time can be made using calculus. 

It now becomes clear, that things like the stock markets, how fast a disease is going to spread in a community, when a moving object will reach a given location, how two objects will move after collision and many more can be calculated using calculus. It is difficult, yes. But so is every other field of study if approached with such fear and frustration. Calculus is therefore a basic mathematical skill to be possessed by every ‘enlightened’ individual if not everyone, for nearly accurate predictions on universal systems.

And so, my learned friends, let’s try as much as possible next time to smile whenever the issue of calculus is brought up. What do you know; actually spending TIME with the subject might lead to CHANGES you could have never predicted. Or could you?