Calculus with Julia: Learn Calculus Through Code
These notes teach calculus using the Julia programming language, emphasizing numerical and graphical approaches over symbolic computation. The author argues that Julia's natural syntax makes it accessible to beginners, similar to a calculator, while offering powerful capabilities. The material covers a focused set of computational concepts sufficient for introductory calculus, with self-graded exercises and a companion package. The notes are inspired by the Harvard 'rule of four' and aim to use technology to explore concepts without getting bogged down in programming mechanics.
Our real goal is to get at the concepts using technology as much as possible without getting bogged down in the mechanics of the computer language.
- patagurbon
There's no language I'd want to teach (applied) math in more than Julia. Lean is obviously kind for anything involving a proof, but for teaching anything with linear algebra involved the syntax alone is enough of a reason to prefer Julia.
Optimization, specifically the kind that JuMP tackles, is another field where teaching is probably easier in Julia than any other language
- Trusteando
The stated goal is to introduce math concept without computer language or use being a burden. But then I took a quick glimpse at the derivative chapter, and at the top there is "using Sympy", so you don't only use Julia but also sympy. Mathematica and Matlab are the alternative in a university setting in which free licenses for students are available, with strong numerical and symbolic capabilities . I think Julia is a lovely language, but perhaps Julia + Sympy is a difficult proposal for attaining the stated goal. S.Rational(1) + S.Rational(1,3) type of things from sympy are hard to digest.
Edited: Added: I think if you love teaching calculus using Julia then the passion you transmit might compensate for the additional burden of using Julia plus SymPy.
- subset
I'm just picking up Julia for my DSP course at uni, and came across this nice intro. It's very well-paced for a first introduction to programming!
- utilize1808
What's the developer experience like with Julia nowadays? Any IDE / static analysis / debugger options that doesn't feel like experimental?
- sundarurfriend
20 quadrillion ants is about 2.5 million ants per human - pretty insane to think about. I thought I had a grasp on their abundance, but I'd still probably have underestimated their numbers by an order of magnitude previously.
We still mog them on mass and volume though. 2.5 million of the average ant would only make the size of a human leg, if that.