Calculus Math Quotes

A collection of calculus math quotes and even a calculus song.

Calculus

"Calculus has its limits."

"The whole apparatus of the calculus takes on an entirely different form when developed for the complex numbers." -- Keith Devlin

"The Mean Value Theorem is the midwife of calculus - not very important or glamorous by itself, but often helping to deliver other theorems that are of major significance." -- E. Purcell and D. Varberg

"God does not care about our mathematical difficulties - he integrates empirically" -- Albert Einstein

"But just as much as it is easy to find the differential [derivative] of a given quantity, so it is difficult to find the integral of a given differential. Moreover, sometimes we cannot say with certainty whether the integral of a given quantity can be found or not." -- Johann Bernoulli

"Among all of the mathematical disciplines the theory of differential equations is the most important... It furnishes the explanation of all those elementary manifestations of nature which involve time." -- Sophus Lie

"In the fall of 1972 President Nixon announced that the rate of increase of inflation was decreasing. This was the first time a sitting president used the third derivative to advance his case for reelection. -- Hugo Rossi"

"Calculus required continuity, and continuity was supposed to require the infinitely little; but nobody could discover what the infinitely little might be." -- Bertrand Russell

"Who has not been amazed to learn that the function y = e^x, like a phoenix rising from its own ashes, is its own derivative?" -- Francois le Lionnais

"I recoil with dismay and horror at this lamentable plague of functions which do not have derivatives. -- Charles Hermite

A Calculus Carol

(written by: Denis Gannon(1940-1991) sung to the tune of "Oh, Christmas Tree")

Oh, Calculus; Oh, Calculus,
How tough are both your branches.
Oh, Calculus; Oh, Calculus,
To pass what are my chances?
Derivatives I cannot take,
At integrals my fingers shake.
Oh, Calculus; Oh, Calculus,
How tough are both your branches.

Oh, Calculus; Oh, Calculus,
Your theorems I can't master.
Oh, Calculus; Oh, Calculus,
My Proofs are a disaster.
You pull a trick out of the air,
Or find a reason, God knows where.
Oh, Calculus; Oh, Calculus,
Your theorems I can't master.

Oh, Calculus; Oh, Calculus,
My limit I am reaching.
Oh, Calculus; Oh, Calculus,
For mercy I'm beseeching.
My grades do not approach a B,
They're just an epsilon from D.
Oh, Calculus; Oh, Calculus,
My limit I am reaching.

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