Is calculus just basic arithmetic? British and I've never heard of it outside of TV shows so was never sure what it was.
calculus is the study of change
it's the type of mathematics that isn't concerned with (solely) discreet numbers, it's the mathematics of curves, instances in time and space, motion, etc. it's mathematics that can't be understood in single instances, but need to be seen over a series to discern the pattern.
Classic calculus example: find the area of a curve. Real life curves are non-discreet figures, boolean logic is governed by discreet values, and calculus is the mathematical attempt to reconcile this incongruity. You break the curve up into small discrete chunks, and thus "approach" a real answer. The smaller the chunk, the more "correct" the answer.
Calculus is where you start to deal with those logical paradoxes you might have once thought up, like "in order to walk across the room, I need to walk half way across it first. In order to walk half way across the room, I need to walk a quarter of the way first. In order to walk a quarter of the way across the room, I need to walk an eighth of the way first. Repeated infinitely, it is thus impossible to walk across the room."
It's pretty much the opposite of basic arithmetic, although use use basic arithmetic to do calculus.
watch this:
Calculus gets really, really cool when you start applying it to advanced concepts. anything that operates on a spectrum is where calculus shines. That goes for things like light and physics -- you'll find a
ton of calculus if you go into hardcore graphics studies for example, or things like motion detection, or brain interfacing, any sort of time you need to understand the relationship (read: ratio) between one phenomenon and another phenomenon, you'll likely be using calculus in your study. Any time you hear words like "per" or "rate" or you deal with things "over time," you're dealing with calculus.
A super easy example everyone intuitively knows but doesn't even realize it's calculus: you're driving a car, and someone is slowing down in front of you. you don't directly control your cars position in space through time, rather you only control it's accleration and speed. By understanding the relationship between speed, accleration, time, and distance, you can calculate in your brain how to work your foot to slow your car down over time to avoid ramming into the car in front of you. You can work out each component of that problem to better, more minutely understand what is going on, and doing that is called calculus.
