Fast Start Differential Calculus

This book reviews the algebraic prerequisites of calculus, including solving equations, lines, quadratics, functions, logarithms, and trig functions. It introduces the derivative using the limit-based definition and covers the standard function library and the product, quotient, and chain rules. It explores the applications of the derivative to curve sketching and optimization and concludes with the formal definition of the limit, the squeeze theorem, and the mean value theorem.

Dr. Daniel Ashlock is a professor of mathematics at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. Dr. Ashlock received his Ph.D. in mathematics from Caltech with a focus in algebraic combinatorics. He was employed at Iowa State University before moving to Canada. Dr. Ashlock works on representation issues in evolutionary computation including games, optimization, bioinformatics, and theoretical biology. He holds the Bioinformatics Chair in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Guelph and serves on the editorial board of the IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation, the IEEE Transactions on Games, The IEEE/ACM Transactions on Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Biosystems, and Game and Puzzle Design. Dr. Ashlock serves on the IEEE Computational Intelligence Societies technical committees on games and bioinformatics and biomedical engineering.