What is the most important concept in calculus?

Question

I took calculus in college, but I forgot it all. Every mathematical dicipline seems to have important concepts, and I just want to know what some of the important concepts or calculus are.

Answer 1

My highly informal way of stating the fundamental question answered by calculus is, "How much do you have when you add up an infinite number of infinitely small things?"

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By the way, to whoever thinks I should have said "The Fundamental Theorem of Calculus", I think I DID say that... :)

Answer 2

Concepts In Calculus

Answer 3

The most important concept in calculus, believe it or not, is the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus.

Much of the new material in calculus deals with differentiation and integration. FTC relates these two topics in that, in general, the derivative of the integral of a function is the function and the integral of the derivative of a function is the function.

Calculus, in its entirety, is a valubale concept. It is used in virtually all the sciences, and is the fundamental basis of physics. But mathematically speaking, the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus is the most important concept.

Answer 4

The Fundamental Theorem of Calculus is extremely important because it establishes a connection between the two branches of Calculus; differential and integral calculus. It gives the precise inverse relationship between the integral and the derivative. Check out the source.

Answer 5

Calculus is based on a strong Algebraic foundation. I found that most concepts in Calculus deal with units versus time.

Most other courses that have Calculus incorporated in them use that concept.

Answer 6

The "fundamental theorem of calculus".

It's hard to type out here, because it has deltas and limits, but you'll remember it as soon as you see it, and you can google it.