Animating calculus

by Edward W. Packel

Animating Calculus is designed to help you explore calculus and visualize concepts through the use of computation and animation. This collection of 22 labs, together with the computer algebra system Mathematica, can be used for self-study, demonstration, or as a laboratory supplement to an existing calculus sequence. Standard calculus topics as well as new and unusual extensions and applications are presented, including derivatives and rate of change, calculus and landing airplanes, population dynamics and iteration, the fundamental theorem, The Buffon needle problem, numerical and symbolic integration, rolling wheels (round and square), subtleties of the harmonic series, and more. Animating Calculus includes exercises and demonstrations that focus on important and fundamental ideas and applications rather than the everyday mechanics of a computer algebra system. Sophisticated animations are used to clarify geometric concepts in calculus. In addition, discussions of numerical and graph