What Is Calculus and Why do we Study it?Calculus is the study of how things change. It provides a framework for modeling systems in which there is change, and a way to deduce the predictions of such...

What Is Calculus and Why do we Study it?Calculus is the study of how things change. It provides a framework for modeling systems in which there is change, and a way to deduce the predictions of such models.

I have been around for a while, and know how things change, more or less. What can calculus add to that?

I am sure you know lots about how things change. And you have a qualitative notion of calculus. For example the concept of speed of motion is a notion straight from calculus, though it surely existed long before calculus did and you know lots about it.

So what does calculus add for me?

It provides a way for us to construct relatively simple quantitative models of change, and to deduce their consequences.

To what end?