“All the little bits”

  • Adderbox76@lemmy.ca
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    6 months ago

    but wouldn’t “the sum of all the little bits of x” just be… x? Like what the fuck Calculus?! Speak plainly.

    • UNY0N@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Yes, that’s the whole point of calculus. It’s useful for finding x if you don’t have other easier ways to do so.

      Here’s an example of how dividing the area under a curve up into smaller and smaller bits helps to find a value for the area.

      • I Cast Fist@programming.dev
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        6 months ago

        I mean, the idea is simple enough to understand. The actual execution is what fucks idiots like me, especially when the exam is full of shit like integral sin(e ^ (x^2 * cos(e)) * tan(sqrt 5x)

        • frezik@midwest.social
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          6 months ago

          That’s been an argument among educators. You can teach the basic concepts of Calculus to a fourth grader. What makes it difficult is rigor, but we don’t necessarily need to teach rigor to fourth graders.