The purpose of a Calculus Project is to demonstrate the utility of Calculus from what we learned in the classroom by applying the techniques to a chosen problems. The problem can come from everyday occurrences such the fluctuations of body weights, annual salary, changes in world population or earth temperature etc. We shall focus a function with multiple independent variables. For example,
salary = f(GDP, education, experience).
body weight = g(calories intake, calories outgoing, …).
a country\’s population = h(year, GDP, …).
gas mileage = f(dist, temp, average speed).
gas temperature = g(gas pressure, gas volume) from the ideal gas law.
in general, performance measurement = f(control variable 1, control variable 2, control variable 3,…)
A typical project will be in the range from 3 to 5 pages long with explanation of the project: define the problem/function, define the data collection, illustrate the techniques from Calculus used – mainly multi-variable differential, and a summary or conclusion
Outline
1. What is the problem – define your function with multiple variables?
2. Data Collection – how do you get the data? (private or public)
3. What are the candidates functions f derived from the data? (will use excel/metacalculator)
4. Validate/verify the best functions that model your problem – validation and prediction
(this is the main part of the report)
5. Find out the max/min of f
6. Any conclusions you can draw
