OVERCOMING MATH ANXIETY
Chapter 7. Sunday Math:
What Is Calculus, Anyway?
For those who have not studied it (and even for some who have), the word "calculus" looms large and fierce. Its powers are said to be wondrous, but hard to explain to the uninitiated. The challenge seems to reside in the nature of the subject, its terms, and its fundamental theorems even more than in its avowed difficulty.
Can an infinite number of finite things fit onto a finite space?
What are the uses of calculus in solving real-world problems? Why does it inspire so much awe?
What do we know about motion? Objects in motion change position at every instant of time. But motion is continuous. How can we analyze something happening continuously when all we can measure are points in space and instants in time?
If calculus were only a method for solving engineering problems,
I would not go any further. But it is far more. It is a way to
think about relationships among things, and a way of ranking their
impacts. Thinking about infinity need not have been the starting
point. Somewhere out there for each of us is a metaphor...
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