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How do people feel about introducing (very lightly) the use of calculus to determine the slope of curves? High school kids, after all, do encounter calculus these days. [[User:Human|Human]] 14:53, 15 May 2007 (EDT)
How do people feel about introducing (very lightly) the use of calculus to determine the slope of curves? High school kids, after all, do encounter calculus these days. [[User:Human|Human]] 14:53, 15 May 2007 (EDT)
:Sure, I was just thinking about that. In algebra, we speak only of the slope of a line. That's easy, because it has the same slope at all points.
:But a parabola has a different slope at every point. In differential calculus, you can find the slope of any curve f(x) by "differentiating" it. For example, if y = ax<sup>2</sup> then dy/dx (the slope) is 2ax. And the slope of sin x = cos x which is somehow really fascinating to me because my life has so many ups and downs. ;-) --[[User:Ed Poor|Ed Poor]] <sup>[[User talk:Ed Poor|Talk]]</sup> 19:21, 1 October 2007 (EDT)