Learning About Archimedes of Syracuse in the History of Calculus

It's very easy to say that Isaac Newton introduced the wondrous tool of calculus. Maybe, learning how to implement physics into calculus. However, one can think that the history of mathematics is very long. As far as history permits, we can learn about the mathematics of the Greeks. A lot of ancient structures are a testament to the usage of engineering mathematics in ancient times.

From MacTutor, I would like to share this amazing fact about Archimedes of Syracuse with his amazing discovery:

Archimedes was the greatest mathematician of his age. His contributions in geometry revolutionised the subject and his methods anticipated the integral calculus. He was a practical man who invented a wide variety of machines including pulleys and the Archimidean screw pumping device.

At first, mathematics in the classroom feels dull and lifeless. I think it's because there's hardly any exposure to the applications. I felt that too that it was a dull mental exercise. I found in college that calculus is part of life, and all mathematics is part of life. The more I read history, the more I felt like I regret hating mathematics in my teenager years. Though, I still feel that the way mathematics is taught might be encouraging more hatred than love for such a wonderful subject.

The calculus I'm familiar with is differential calculus. I'd like to do more research on integral calculus as I try to overcome my old-age fear of mathematics. Knowing history may help more students get more interested in the fascinating world of mathematics.

Integral Calculus is the branch of calculus where we study integrals and their properties. Integration is an essential concept which is the inverse process of differentiation. Both the integral and differential calculus are related to each other by the fundamental theorem of calculus. In this article, you will learn what is integral calculus, why it is used, its types, formulas, examples, and applications of integral calculus in detail.

Now, for the applications:

Application of Integral Calculus
The important applications of integral calculus are as follows. Integration is applied to find:
The area between two curves
Centre of mass
Kinetic energy
Surface area
Work
Distance, velocity and acceleration
The average value of a function
Volume

I can't exactly talk much about calculus. The area between two curves is used also in finances and economics. Granted, I'm no economist so I might need to read more about how it's used. Meanwhile, I'm here now trying to get more people who hate mathematics to actually like it. I overcame my hate for it. I believe that teaching about mathematics' long history and applications may slowly help overcome a phobia for it.

What's the Use of Complaining About Celebrities and Political Dynasties Running for Politics While DEFENDING Presidential and Rejecting Parliamentary?

2025 is just around the corner for the midterm elections . People keep emphasizing the need to "defend the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines" for any amendments whatsoever. If that were true then we really need to remove Article XVII entirely if the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines was meant to be set in stone (read here ). Several camps whether it's PDP-Laban supporters, Liberal Party of the Philippines supporters, Uniteam supporters, etc.--I can expect social media mudslinging at its finest . I keep talking about the need to amend or even replace the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines. However, they keep acting like it's the best constitution in the world, they cite Atty. Hilario G. Davide Jr. (and others like the Monsods) to idolatrous levels , and when I talk about the parliamentary system--I can expect the whole, "Boohoo! It will never work because we already tried it under Marcos! The proof was Cesar Virata!" However, I wrote a refute on that ...

The EDSA Revolution of 1986 Would've Never Happened if People were Stuck in Nostalgia

It's something that I read crybaby comments online where people are saying, "Making EDSA a special working day is making us forget the glory of EDSA." Please, let me remind people that even 10 years later , neither the late Lee Kuan Yew's birthday nor his death anniversary has become a national holiday in Singapore! Singapore simply honored LKY's birthday by working on that day. I was laughing at the toxic Facebook page called We Are Millennials. What truly made me think that these people are stuck in nostalgia is that EDSA 1986 would never have been possible if the Filipinos were stuck in nostalgia . I remember talks about how the first Marcos administration was built on these two pillars. The first pillar was information control . The other pillar was toxic positivity. I remember back in 1995 when the social studies teacher talked about how he thought that Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. was a "good president" due to the long holidays. However, the holidays ...

No to Cha Cha Because of EDSA?

Back when I was in elementary, we were told that EDSA 1986 was a good thing. I don't want to deny the well-documented human rights abuses of the first Marcos Administration . The repeated call to amend or reform the constitution has unfortunately been demonized as if it's always a bad thing. I guess that's a result of people with poor reading (and listening) comprehension for so long . If only people started to read in-between the details of Philippine history, if only people read through the book From Third World to First and not just quote the late Lee Kuan Yew about the Marcoses, they'll see that using EDSA to demonize charter change is really a bad move. Startling facts during the Marcos Years that may have been ignored by anti-charter change proponents What happened during EDSA was practically a revolutionary government . Above is a video of the late Benigno Simeon A. Aquino Jr. aka Ninoy. I confess that I do tend to admire Ninoy, especially with his Los Angeles sp...

[OPINION] Why Do Some Filipino Boomers Insist that the Marcos Years Were Under a "Parliamentary System"

This is a screenshot I got on Facebook. The Tweet is courtesy of Raissa Espinosa-Robles, who I hear is a marites or a gossiper. I'm not denying that there are some truths in what she said. It's true that the Marcos Years have their well-documented human rights abuses. However, Mrs. Robles still continues to insist in the myth of a parliamentary system under Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr.'s regime. It's not just Mrs. Robles but also some Filipino boomers who keep saying, "Are you crazy? We had a parliamentary system under Marcos." I could show them some evidence like Marcos' severe lack of legitimacy to disprove the parliamentary systme. I even wrote about the snap elections because Marcos was a president with powers (read here ). Under a parliamentary system, the president is purely ceremonial. The president is just a door opener and credentials receiver! Benigno Simeon A. Aquino Jr. and Salvador "Doy" Laurel both challenged the legitimacy of Marcos...

Why EDSA Should Be a Reason to Support, NOT Oppose Cha Cha

I don't doubt that the EDSA Revolution left a legacy to the world. Yesterday, I wrote a piece where I asked if EDSA should be a reason to say no to cha-cha . It was a peaceful revolution though it's often argued that the late Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. didn't want to further ruin his already tarnished image in front of the world. How true was it that President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., in his younger days, wanted to run over the protestors? However, consider EDSA wasn't really one of a kind. The Indian pacifist Mohandas Karamchand "Mahatma" Gandhi, and his writings inspired the late Benigno Simeon A. Aquino Jr. aka Ninoy . also led a similar revolution against the unjust British occupation of India during that time. Gandhi may have been dead by the time Ninoy read about Gandhi. However, Gandhi's peaceful protests left a legacy that was probably not so well-known before. Today, the Indian economy has been doing better than the Philippines. I even consult...

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