High School > Math > Calculus Videos
Calculus is a branch of math that deals with continuously changing numbers. Think of a car that always changes speed, say, one that’s going through a zigzag road. It’s easy to say that the speed constantly changes, but how about the speed at a specific point in time? That’s one of the things that calculus can solve. It can tell the speed of the car at any point in its zigzag journey.
The other fields of science also make use of calculus a lot. Take physics, for example. There are so many concepts in physics that involve principles learned from calculus. There’s the calculation of the strength of electric fields, magnetic fields, and how they affect surrounding particles. Calculus has also a lot to do with determining acceleration, momentum, kinetic energy, and other things from Newtonian physics. In fact, understanding the formulas through calculus makes the concepts easier to appreciate.
Biology also gets help from calculus. Although it’s unlikely, as biology deals mostly with observing living things, this branch of science also benefits a lot from the concepts taught in calculus. Determining growth rates of bacteria, for instance, is one widely used application. Predicting the spread of disease in epidemiology is another one.
Chemistry also takes some cues from calculus. The most well-known application lies in chemical kinetics, which is the study of how fast chemical reactions progress. Since this deals a lot with rates of change, it’s right up the alley of calculus.
Even economics and banking benefits from the concepts of calculus. The idea of compound interest, for example, is one that involves a continuous rate of change, therefore it needs calculus. Predicting market behaviors and such also need quite a bit of calculus. Real-world bankers and financial managers know this, and they are well-versed in this field of mathematics to be able to do their jobs well.
