UNIT I Review of the Mathematical Foundation

1.1 Derivatives and Integrals

Foundational working tools in calculus, the derivative and integral permeate all aspects of
modeling nature in the physical sciences.

The derivative of a function can be geometrically interpreted as the slope of the curve of the
mathematical function f(x) plotted as a function of x. But its implications for the modeling of
nature go far deeper than this simple geometric application might imply. After all, you can see
yourself drawing finite triangles to discover slope, so why is the derivative so important? Its
importance lies in the fact that many physical entities such as velocity, acceleration, force and
so on are defined as instantaneous rates of change of some other quantity. The derivative can
give you a precise instantaneous value for that rate of change and lead to precise modeling of
the desired quantity.

The integral of a function can be geometrically interpreted as the area under the curve of the
mathematical function f(x) plotted as a function of x. You can see yourself drawing a large
number of blocks to approximate the area under a complex curve, getting a better answer if
you use more blocks. The integral gives you a mathematical way of drawing an infinite number
of blocks and getting a precise analytical expression for the area. That's very important for
geometry - and profoundly important for the physical sciences where the definitions of many
physical entities can be cast in a mathematical form like the area under a curve. The area of a
little block under the curve can be thought of as the width of the strip weighted by (i.e.,
multiplied by) the height of the strip. Many properties of continuous bodies depend upon
weighted sums, which to be exact must be infinite weighted sums - a problem tailor-made for
the integral. For example, finding the center of mass of a continuous body involves weighting
each element of mass by its distance from an axis of rotation, a process for which the integral is
necessary if you are going to get a precise value. A vast number of physical problems involve
such infinite sums in their solutions, making the integral an essential tool for the physical
scientist.

Physical Interpretation of Derivatives

You can think of the derivative as representing a rate of change (speed is one
example of this). This makes it very useful for solving physics problems.

Here’s one example from physics: If q is an amount of electric charge, the

dq
derivative is the change in that charge over time, or the electric current.
dt
 A second, more tangible example is to let s stand for distance; then the rate
ds
of change is what we call speed. Let’s investigate this second example in
dt
more detail to get a visceral sense of what instantaneous speed means.

On Halloween, MIT students have a tradition of dropping pumpkins from the

roof of the building this lecture was given in. Let’s say that the building is about
300 feet tall. We’ll use a slightly smaller value of 80 meters for the height
because it makes the problem easier to solve.

The equation of motion for objects near the earth’s surface (which we will
just accept for now) says that the height above the ground h of the pumpkin t
seconds after it’s dropped from the building is roughly:

h = 80 − 5t2 meters

Let’s think about this. The instant the pumpkin is dropped, t = 0 and h = 80
meters. When t = 4 seconds, h = 80 − 5(42) = 0, and the pumpkin has reached
the ground.

The average speed of the pumpkin over the time it’s falling is

∆ h distance travelled 0 m−80 m

= = =−20 m/s
∆t time elapsed 4 s−0 s

(The numerator is 0 − 80 and not 80 − 0 because we must subtract the initial

position from the final position, not the other way around.)

The people watching the pumpkin drop probably don’t care about the
average speed. They want to know how fast the pumpkin is going when it
slams into the ground. That’s known as the instantaneous speed, and is the
' d
derivative h ( t ) = h. To find the instantaneous velocity at t = 5, we evaluate
dt
d
h.
dt
d
h=0−10 t=−10 t
dt

If you’ve had calculus before, you’re probably able to find the derivative of
the polynomial 80 − 5t2 on your own. If not, you’ll have to take a few things on
faith here. First, the derivative of 80 − 5t2 is just the derivative of 80 minus the
 derivative of 5t2 . Next, the derivative of 80 is the slope of the graph of y = 80
when x = 0; that graph is a horizontal line! And finally, since we know that the
derivative of t2 is 2t2−1 = 2t it should not surprise you that the derivative of 5t2 is
10t.

We know that the pumpkin hits the pavement 4 seconds after it’s dropped,
at time t = 4, so the pumpkin’s speed is:

h(4) = (−10)(4) = −40 m/s (about 90 mph or 145 kph).

The value of is negative because the pumpkin’s height is decreasing; it is

moving downward.

In actuality, the building is a little taller than 80 meters and there is air resistance. You may do
a much more thorough study on your own if you wish.

One of the most common uses of differentiation and integration is when you are concerned
with the motion of a body, such as a person or car.

There are three things that can describe a body’s position and movement; position, velocity and
acceleration.

Position is where the body is located.

· Velocity is how fast the body is moving, and in which direction.

· Acceleration is a measure of whether the body’s velocity is getting faster or slower, and
how quickly (this is a simplified definition).

If you know one of these three things, you can obtain information about the other two using
differentiation and integration.

· You can get velocity by differentiating the body’s position function.

· You can get acceleration by differentiating the body’s velocity function.

Likewise, you can use integration to go in reverse:

· You can get velocity by integrating the body’s acceleration function.

· You can get position by integrating the body’s velocity function.

Another way of visualising this is:

Differentiation:   

Integration:

Let’s illustrate these principles with an example:

Practical integration question

A truck starts moving down a road. The expression for its velocity is (5t) m/s, where t is the
time in seconds since it started moving. After 10 seconds, how far has it moved from where it
started?

Solution

If the truck was moving at a constant velocity, this problem would be easy to solve using simple
math. But its velocity gets larger and larger as time goes on. So, we must use another
technique.
The question asks how far it has moved – which of the three (position, velocity and
acceleration) are most directly related to distance? The truck’s position is most closely related
to how far it has moved.

We have an expression for the truck’s velocity, but we are interested in the truck’s position. So,
we need to get from velocity to position – we use integration.

Now, do we need an indefinite integral or a definite integral? Well, we’re interested in how far
the truck has moved between the start time and the end time. The problem states it wants to
find how far the truck has gone after a specific time – we need a definite integral.

What are the numbers to put in our definite integral? Well, we’re interested in how far the
truck has moved between the start time and the end time. So, the numbers to put in are the
time when the truck starts moving, and the time at the end. It starts at time = 0 and finishes at
time = 10. Now we can write the definite integral:
10

∫ ( 5 t ) dt
0

Note how now it is a ‘dt’ at the end instead of a ‘dx’. In general, you write ‘d_’ and put
whatever in the function is changing – in this case ‘t’, in previous cases it was ‘x’.

So, by integrating we can change the velocity function into a position function. Let’s work out
what the position function is:

Integrating we get:
5 2
t +c
2

We now have an expression for the truck’s position after ‘t’ seconds.

So now we work out what this expression equals for 10 seconds (the top number):
5 2
t +c
2

=250+c

Then we work out what this expression equals for 0 seconds (the bottom number):
 5 2
0 +c = c
2

Then we subtract the second result from the first:

(250+c)-c=250m

Answer: The truck travels a total distance of 250 m in the 10 seconds.

1.2 The Taylor Expansion

Consider a function f (x) that is differentiable n + 1 times, that is, its (n + 1)-th derivative exists. Would it
be possible to find a polynomial Pn (x) of degree less than or equal to n with the following properties:

1. Its value at the point a is f(a).

2. The value of its j-th derivative j = 1,...n at point a is the same as the derivatives of f (x). In other

words,