Calculus, sometimes called the “mathematics of change,” is the branch of mathematics concerned with describing the precise way in which changes in one variable relate to changes in another. In almost every human activity we encounter two types of variables: those that we can control directly and those that we cannot. Fortunately, those variables that we cannot control directly often respond in some way to those that we can.^[1] The Derivative... Shortly after his Cambridge graduation in 1665, Newton discovered a new method for solving an equation of the form f(x) = 0. Unlike special methods such as the quadratic formula that apply only to equations of special form, Newton's Method can be used to approximate numerical solutions of virtual any equation.^[2]