The Calculus Diaries: How Math Can Help You Lose Weight, Win in Vegas, and Survive a Zombie Apocalypse (edit title/settings)

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Characters/People edit see section history

• Archimedes of Syracuse: Add a description of this character.
• Charles Darwin
• Leonhard Euler
• Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Fourier
• Antoni Gaudi: Spanish architect.
• Pierre Simon De Laplace
• Isaac Newton: Generally accepted as the inventor of calculus.

Quotes edit see section history

• “The zombies get us all in the end.”

  Robert Smith

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• Calculus boils down to two fundamental ideas: (1) the derivative (differential calculus), which is a way of measuring instantaneous change, such as finding the speed of a car when you only know its position; and (2) the integral (integral calculus), which describes the accumulation of an infinite number of tiny pieces that add up to a whole and can be used, for instance, to determine the distance a car has traveled when only its speed is known.

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• Knowledge is power, and we forfeit that power when we choose to remain willfully ignorant.

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• Newton’s key insight was the connection between the derivative and integral. Finding the area under a curve (integration) is the reverse of finding the slope of a tangent line (differentiation). That is the fundamental theorem of calculus.

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• So the area under a curve corresponds to the integral, while the slope of the tangent line to a point on that curve corresponds to the derivative.

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• The first is a process of subtraction and division; the second, a process of multiplication and addition. Each “undoes” the work of the other.

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• “A function is a set of ordered pairs where, for every value of x, there is only one corresponding value for y.” But another way to think of the function is as a link between cause and effect. The variables x and y, for instance, are wholly interdependent, such that, if a change occurs in one of them (cause, or the independent variable), the other changes in response (effect, or the dependent variable).

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• One of those minds belonged to Abu Jafar al-Kwarizmi, whom we can blame for the development of modern algebra. He dreamed up how to use an equation to describe an unknown, the original x factor. He’s the guy who invented that tedious exercise of “balancing” both sides of an equation by adding, subtracting, or dividing by the same amount on both sides, a plague for high school students to this day. He called his brainchild “comparing and restoring.” Since the Arabic word for “restoring” is al-jabr, today we know this discipline as algebra.

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• The act of devising a calculus problem from your observations of the world around you—and then solving it—is as much a creative endeavor as writing a novel or composing a symphony. Those things are not easy, nor should they be. As with any art form, the best way to learn and improve is by diligently practicing that art.

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• In modern calculus, these quantities—position, velocity, acceleration, and so forth—are known as functions, a concept that didn’t exist in Newton’s time.

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• At its core, calculus is about creating and solving logic problems—a most creative endeavor. In fact, constructing a calculus problem is akin to telling a story; we’re just doing it with numerical symbols instead of words.

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Table of Contents edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Jennifer Ouellette (Author)

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
• Dewey: 515

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Science › Mathematics › Pure Mathematics › Calculus
• Books › Science › Mathematics › Study & Teaching
• Books › Biographies & Memoirs › Memoirs

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