Don’t Drink and Derive
(Calculus and Alcohol Don’t Mix)
Although drinking and driving is an important issue, I believe that there is a larger issue that needs to be dealt with. Driving while under the influence of alcohol is dangerous because one might crash their car resulting in the injury or death of oneself or other innocent bystanders. An incident with drunk driving can be as simple as driving a car into a ditch or as serious as a multiple car collision resulting in the deaths of around twenty people. Don’t get me wrong, twenty casualties from a car crash is a tragedy. However, let’s take a look at calculus. A small incident involving calculus could be as simple as a student getting a bad grade on a test or a homework assignment or as catastrophic as a sky scrapper crumbling to the ground, killing thousands even tens of thousands of people, as the result of a miscalculation. Which is worse a bad car crash or a building collapsing? Miscalculations are a terrible thing and intoxication impairs the senses increasing the chance of a miscalculation.
Not all derivative errors are fatal but fatality doesn’t need to be a factor in severity. Marginal Revenue is defined as the instantaneous growth (derivative) of revenue as a function of production. If one took the derivative incorrectly, a company could think that they are doing better or worse than they actually are.
Current is defined as the instantaneous growth rate of and electrical charge as a function of time. Electric shock is when current passes through the body; it can cause anything from a slight tingle to cardiac arrest. If current is calculated wrong, a wire might not carry the correct warning label and be more hazardous than one may realize.
Force, the derivative of momentum as a function of time, is also a very danger. New cars are built so that the front of the car will crumple to add time to an impact to reduce the force on passengers, reducing the amount of injuries sustained...