What are the 4 Concepts of Calculus?
The four central concepts of calculus are (Ledder, 2020):
These four concepts are the foundation for all of the material in calculus. They allow you to solve mathematical problems that were, prior to the discovery of calculus, impossible to solve.
Continuity and Limits
Continuity is very difficult to define precisely, but in layman’s terms is fairly easy to visualize: It means that something goes on and on forever, without any breaks.
One of the 4 concepts of calculus is continuity. The atomic clock measure time-continuity.
Calculus deals with continuous functions using the limit process, which you can think of as a “stopping point”. In the atomic clock example, the limit of the clock’s accuracy is 19 decimal places. Limits are in place to give us a workable number, otherwise we would be calculating (with ordinary mathematics) forever and ever.
Definite Integral and Derivative
The derivative gives you the slope of a function.
References
Ledder, G. (2020). A Brief Summary of Calculus. Retrieved November 11, 2020 from: http://www.math.unl.edu/~gledder1/Math238/Calculus
Stephanie Glen. "4 Concepts of Calculus" From CalculusHowTo.com: Calculus for the rest of us! https://www.calculushowto.com/4-concepts-of-calculus/
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