Page 46 - Calculus Workbook For Dummies

In this part . . .

saac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz, co-inventors of cal-
Iculus in the late 17th century, did calculus without the
solid foundation provided by limits and continuity. Now,
since Newton and Leibniz were merely two of the greatest
geniuses who ever lived, you don’t want to do math at their
lowly level, do you? Of course not! You want your calculus
to be mathematically rigorous, and for that you need to
master limits and continuity — despite their almost com-
plete lack of practical importance. Now, don’t blame me for
this — heck, if practical relevance is your standard, you
might as well drop out of school all together. Actually, the
study of limits (and to a much lesser extent continuity) can
be fascinating. And in the event that you hail from the
show-me state, limits will allow you to prove that in a race
against a tortoise where you give the tortoise a head start,
you actually will catch up to and then pass the tortoise.
The things that mathematics allows you to accomplish!