Introduction to Calculus

What is Calculus?

Calculus is a Latin word that means “pebble”. It is a branch of Maths that tries to understand a bigger phenomenon by looking at its small pieces.

Here we find derivatives and integrals of functions, by methods originally based on the summation of infinitesimal differences.

Types of Calculus

Calculus has two main branches:

• Differential Calculus (Derivatives) – It is used to cut something into smaller pieces to find how it changes. Derivative of a function is the “rate of change” of that function, which is represented by the slope of that function.

• Integral Calculus (Integration) – It is used to join (i.e. integrate) the smaller pieces together to find the total quantity, such as areas, volumes, central points, etc.