If Archimedes would have known functions
Abstract: These are notes and slides from a Pecha-Kucha talk given on March 6, 2013. The presentation tinkered with the question whether calculus on graphs could have emerged by the time of Archimedes, if the concept of a function would have been available 2300 years ago. The text first attempts to boil down discrete single and multivariable calculus to one page each, then presents the slides with additional remarks and finally includes 40 "calculus problems" in a discrete or so-called 'quantum calculus' setting. We also added some sample Mathematica code, gave a short overview over the emergence of the function concept in calculus and included comments on the development of calculus textbooks over time.
Paper Prompts
Sign up for free to create and run prompts on this paper using GPT-5.
Top Community Prompts
Collections
Sign up for free to add this paper to one or more collections.