How do calculators and computers do integral and differential calculus?

Question

Digital arithmetic seems straightforward, but how do calculators do calculus? How do calculators find the area between two curves, or calculate the instantaneous rate of change of a function?

Thanks for responding

In: Technology

Answer 1

There’s a lot of methods that a computer can use. For real world data, which is where I’d argue you’ll find most of your calculus, the answer is surprisingly simple. *Don’t* do calculus. Real data is made up of discrete points, so riemann sum “integrals” and basic rise over run slope calculations are the obvious choice.