Calculus Applied!
- Free to audit
- Paid certificate
- Course certificate
- Intermediate
- 10 weeks
Calculus Applied! shows how single-variable calculus is used by practitioners in the social, life and physical sciences. Through case studies you meet predator-prey models, the functions standardized-test makers use to analyse the difficulty of questions, economists' rate-of-change models of price and demand in a historical case of subway ridership, and the integrals behind the difference between an x-ray and a CT scan. You work with data, graphs, equations, calculus computations and predictions, and learn to read mathematical models in terms of variables, constants, parameters and the assumptions behind them.
Harvard is explicit that this is a supplement for people who have completed or are taking a calculus course covering derivatives, integrals and differential equations, not a course for learning calculus from scratch. It is self-paced, ten weeks long at 3 to 6 hours per week, and rated intermediate. The course is free to audit on edX, with a verified certificate for $209.
What you’ll learn
- Analyse mathematical models in terms of variables, constants and parameters
- Apply derivatives, integrals and differential equations to case studies
- See how test makers use functions to model question difficulty
- Model price and demand with rates of change
- Explain how integrals relate x-rays to CT scans
Who it’s for
Students finishing AP, IB or first-year calculus, and teachers, who want to see the subject applied; not for learning the basics.
Source: Harvard Online (opens in a new tab) · Verified · Report a change
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