Michel Helfgott

Calculus of One Variable Michel Helfgott

This textbook is intended for a two-semester course on calculus of one variable. The target audience is comprised of first-year students in biology, chemistry, physics and other related disciplines. The title of the book reflects the fact that it is not limited to one single approach to calculus. Rather, we use graphing calculators or applications whenever they are necessary to introduce certain topics. Nonetheless, as expected, a conceptual framework permeates the whole book. A distinctive characteristic of the book is the early introduction of sequences and geometric series, and a gradual development of simple differential equations, as well as the use of linear regression to analyze data. The core of the book is to be found in the first three chapters, in which examples from biology, chemistry and physics are analyzed with care, emphasizing the close links between calculus and the natural sciences. The last two chapters, or sections thereof, can be used as a sort of capstone in order to show how mathematics helps in the understanding of enzyme kinetics and transport across cell membranes.