Calculus

As you prepare for your journey across the bridge to Calculus, what should you pack?

Don't worry if you haven't brought everything you may need from the kingdoms of Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, and Trigonometry. People who have crossed the bridge before you have carried the traditions of those regions with them. Cultural references and language skills can be reviewed along the way. Part of the purpose of the journey, in any case, is to see these old traditions from a new perspective.

And what lies ahead?

If you squint, even now you can make out the rough outlines of Calculus' two highest peaks – the Derivative and the Integral – towering in the distance. Both are covered with functions, like so many exotic evergreens.

If you squint very hard, you may be able to make out the most marvelous engineering accomplishment in this not-so-distant land. Between the peaks: Do you see? The summits are connected — remarkably — by another bridge! This breathtaking achievement has been called The Fundamental Theorem of Calculus.

You might imagine the rest of the land of Calculus, spreading around these peaks like a picture on a postcard. You'll be there one day soon. For now, hold on to your postcard and the feeling of marvelous anticipation.