Chapter 7. Calculus on the TI-83 Plus/TI-84 Plus
This chapter covers
- Calculating numerical derivatives and integrals on your calculator
- Applying derivatives to find the slope, extrema, and inflection points of curves
- Using integrals to find the area under graphed curves
Calculus is a far-reaching subject, used throughout science, engineering, and many other fields. It was first developed by mathematicians Newton and Liebniz in the 17th century. Liebniz invented the integral notation that we use to this day, and he also built some of the first mechanical calculators. Newton used his work on calculus as a foundation for much of his well-known contributions to physics.
Calculus is related to the study of extremely small values, and the two best-known skills from basic calculus are integration and differentiation. If you imagine a graphed function, integration is used to find the area underneath that function by dividing the area into tinier and tinier rectangles. Differentiation (the process of calculating a derivative) finds the slope of a line tangent to a function by moving two points defining the line infinitely close to each other.