Guide To Calculus
A Guide To Calculus
Guide To Calculus
Introduction
Interested in Calculus, eh? Great. Let's spend a few weeks on the Theory of Limits, throw in some x-y graphs, a few physics examples (everyone's favorite), and then...
No! Nein! 停止！
Can you drive a car without knowing how to build the engine? Sure.
And funny enough, driving increases your interest in how cars work. You don't nurture passion starting from your chair, reading schematics. First, you need an experience.
So what's your goal?
| I want... | Suggestion |
|---|---|
| The essential Aha! moment behind Calculus | Lesson 1 (10 mins) |
| A working intuition for Calculus | Lessons 1 - 3 (1 hour) |
| To setup problems for a computer to solve | Lessons 1 - 8 (3 hours) |
| To solve problems on my own | Try the full course (6 hours) |
| To punish myself with the rigorous, theoretical underpinnings behind every concept | Heard of Wikipedia? |
Why's This Course Different?
The lessons are brief (10-20 mins), designed for lasting understanding, and written by an excited friend who wants to spare you the years of frustration he experienced looking for genuine intuition.
Instead of starting with theory, this primer gets you tasting the cookie and then looking at the recipe.
Aha! moments are nearly permanent when they happen. They're our way off the cram/test/forget treadmill.
Is this Free, Paid, or What?
The course text is free online, with a complete edition available:
| The Complete Course Includes... | |
|---|---|
| Course Text | Available Now |
| Video walkthrough for each lesson | Available Now |
| Per-lesson class discussions | Available Now |
| PowerPoint files for all diagrams | Available Now |
| Quizzes to check understanding | In development |
| Print-friendly PDF ebook | In development |
| Invitations to class webinars | In development |
| Buy The Beta Course $99 |
No PayPal? Click "Credit card" at checkout. |
Which version do you need? It's up to you, of course.
I'm building a public pool. Come over, splash around, and see why people seem to enjoy this swimming thing.
You can learn to swim on your own (great!), or speed up the process with expert guidance (also great!). The complete course has the extra resources, discussions, and tools like quizzes (arm floaties) to help ideas click as fast as possible. I know it's an incredible value given the hundreds of hours I've spent in classes just trying to get ideas to click.
The complete course is still in beta, which means:
- The course material is written
- The intial videos walkthroughs are made
- The 1-on-1 discussions are happening
- The slides are available
However, I'm updating the content based on feedback. Once the final content is available (PDF eBook, slides, quizzes, webinars), the price will increase. Of course, everyone on the beta will have access to the final version and future updates.
The goal is to help ideas truly click for you. Calculus is meant to be experienced, not endured, so jump in.
Feedback
My goal is to build lasting interest and understanding. After each lesson, I asked: Did you have an aha! moment?
"Yes, yes, yes! I've done all of this stuff before, and I do understand calculus intuitively, but this was the most fun I've had going through this kind of thing. The informal writing and multitude of great analogies really helps this become an enjoyable read and the rest is simple after that - you make this seem easy, but at the same time, you aren't doing it for us…This is what math education is supposed to be like :)"
"Absolutely. I have psychology and medicine background so I relate your ideas to my world. To me the most useful idea was what each circle production feels like. Rings are natural growth…Slices are automatable chunks and automation cheapens production… Boards in the shape on an Arch are psychologically most palatable for work (wind up, hard part, home stretch). Brilliant and kudos, from one INTP to another."
"I like how you're introducing both derivatives and integrals at the same time - it's really helps with understanding the relationship between them. Also, I appreciate how you're coming from such a different angle than is traditionally taken - it's always interesting to see where you decide to go next."
"That was breathtaking. Seriously, mail my air back please, I've grown used to it. Beautiful work, thank you. Lesson 15 was masterful. I am starting to feel calculus. "d/dx is good" (sorry, couldn't resist!)"
