CALCULUS

Definition and Types

• Calculus is a branch of mathematics that involves the study of rates of
change
• Application: Calculus is used in different fields including physics,
engineering, economics, statistics, and medicine
• Think of two applications of calculus in Business/Economics (Share
your answer in the next face-to-face classroom session)

• Types of Calculus
• Differential Calculus (Differentiation)
• Integral Calculus
Differential Calculus
First Principles
• By using first principle the derivative of a function f(x) is defined as:

• Where means “limit as h tends to 0 of”. The limit does not necessarily
exist but we will not worry about it for the moment.
Examples
1. Find the derivative of . using first principle

• Recall the formula

• We have and

• Thus = 2,

•Since we end up here with a constant, taking the limit as won’t make any
difference:
• Therefore = .
2. Find the derivative of using first principle

•Solution

•We have and

•Thus .

•Letting tends to in the equality above, we obtain

.
Try the following
1. If g (x) = 2x3 – x, calculate g ' (3) using first principle

2. If find using first principle

3. Find using first principle

4. using first principle

using first principle