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Period 3
Calculus Applications in Business
As much as a student may hope to leave behind the high school AP calculus
course that plagued her so to pursue the field of business, one more commonly associated
with suits and briefcases rather than calculators and graph paper, she will never be able to
elude calculus and its applications. Math is everywhere, but it is especially prevalent in
the area of business; not only do colleges offer business mathematics, with business
calculus as one of the most popular courses, but graduates with math and science degrees
are shown to pioneer todays leading companies and corporations in greater proportions.
The two primary branches of calculus are differential calculus and integral
calculus. The first component studies the variation of a function respective to changes in
the variables. The derivative measures the change of a function with respect to a change
in its input; at a chosen value of input, the derivative depicts the linear approximation of
the function near the value. It can be applied to deal with optimization, stock market
curves, and other utilities valuable to a businesss success.
Optimization in the regular sense of the word is the use of
something at its most effective and advantageous state. To reach the
optimal condition of anything, it must be fully exhausted to either its
minimum or its maximum. Business-minded people seek to fully
optimize resources to achieve maximum sales, to optimize operations
to achieve maximum revenue and minimum costs, and to optimize
opportunities. Thus, applications of derivatives are indispensable in the
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Business Applications. 17 Sept 2008. Pauls Online Math Notes. 25 Oct 2009
<http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/Classes/CalcI/BusinessApps.aspx>.
Clayton, Gary E. Economics principles & practices. New York: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill,
2003.
Derivative. 2004. The Financial Dictionary. 25 Oct 2009 <http://financialdictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Derivative+calculus>.
Lane, Margaret. Interview. 25 Oct 2009.
Lau, Jeffrey. Total Revenue and Elasticity. 30 Jun 1998. University of Hawaii. 24 Oct
2009 <http://www2.hawaii.edu/~rpeterso/demand.htm>.
Tatum, Malcolm. What is a Derivatives Market? 11 Sept 2009. Wise Geek. 23 Oct
2009 <http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-derivative-market.htm>.
Wagner, Hans. Bond Yield Curve and the Stock Market. 25 May 2009. Daily Markets.
23 Oct 2009 <http://www.dailymarkets.com/stocks/2009/05/24/bond-yield-curveand-the-stock-market/>.