Calculus: A Modern Approach

gratitude.

TO THE INSTRUCTOR AND GENERAL READER

*

What Is A Variable?

The conceptual and semantic clarification of calculus is centered on the analysis of the hitherto obscure general term variable, which is resolved into an extensive spectrum of well-defined meanings.

The only clear (if one-sided) definition heretofore formulated goes back to Weierstrass who, in his celebrated lectures in the 1880’s, defined it as a symbol that stands for any number or any element belonging to a certain class of numbers. Bertrand Russell, who at the turn of the century investigated the various aspects of variables probably more thoroughly than anyone before him, said: "Variable is perhaps the most distinctly mathematical of all notions; it is certainly also one of the most difficult to understand … and in the present work [The Principles of Mathematics, 1903] a satisfactory theory as to its nature, in spite of much discussion, will hardly be found." In fifty years this situation has not been improved.

In this book a solution of the problem is attempted by distinguishing and making precise various equally important uses of the term variable in pure and applied calculus. Some of these variables differ from each other as profoundly as do trigonometric and geometric tangents. But whereas no one has, on account of a flimsy equivocation, confused tangents of angles and tangents of curves, this book seems to be the first to maintain clear distinctions between the following three concepts:

I. Variables according to Weierstrass, herein called numerical variables, as x and y in

Here, as throughout this book, the numerical variables are printed in roman type. Without any change of the meaning, x and y may be replaced by any two non-identical letters, e.g., by a and b or by y and x; that is to say, two numerical variables may be interchanged:

is tantamount to (1). In calculus, numerical variables may be used or they may, as will be shown herein, be dispensed with.

II. Variables or variable quantities in the sense in which scientists use these terms; for instance, t, the time; s, the distance traveled (in chosen units); x and y, the abscissa and ordinate in a physical or postulational plane (relative to a chosen frame of reference); etc. These variables are defined and thoroughly discussed in Chapter VII under the names of consistent classes of quantities and – reviving Newton’s terminology – of fluents. They are herein consistently denoted by letters in italic type. Fluents cannot be dispensed with in formulas expressing scientific laws, such as Galileo’s

Nor can they be interchanged:

2x + 3y = 5 and 2y + 3x = 5

are different lines. (If, on the other hand, in pure analytic geometry, the first of these two lines is defined as

the class of all pairs (x, y) of numbers such that 2x + 3y = 5,

where x and y are numerical variables, then

the class of all pairs (x, y) of numbers such that 2x + 3y = 5

is an equivalent definition.)

III. Variables in the sense of u and w in statements such as

These variables belong to a third type, first explicitly introduced by the author in 1952 (see Bibliography). They are herein referred to as fluent variables, since they partake in characteristics of numerical variables as well as of fluents. In (3), u and w may be replaced by any two elements of a certain class – but not by two numbers. If u were replaced by 3, and w utterly nonsensical. What u and w in (3) may be replaced by are fluents, such as t and s regarding a motion, or x and y along a plane curve:

About the Notation

Obviously, the preceding clarifications have nothing to do with notation. But it may be pointed out that, in the literature, the equivocations of the term variable are accentuated by the use of the same letters (mainly, x and y in italic type): (1) as numerical variables; (2) to denote specific consistent classes of quantities or fluents, namely abscissa and ordinate; (3) as fluent variables; indeed, (3″) often stands for (3).

In formulas such as

x can be simply shed; and the formulas may be replaced by

In fact, there is a trend toward actually shedding x after the letters f and g – symbols that stand for any function or any element of a certain class of functions and which, therefore, have been called function variables. In several more advanced books on analysis one can read

Only the second formula in (5) contains numerical variables (namely, a and b) and g may be replaced by any function that is continuous between a and b.

Why then is x in (4) usually retained, and, even in more advanced books, reintroduced in applications of (5) to specific functions? The reason is one of the great curiosities in the history of modern analysis – comparable only to the lack of a symbol for the number zero in ancient arithmetic. The function that is perhaps more important than any other – the identity function assuming the value x for any x – lacks a traditional symbol. Therefore, in contrast to (4), in

x cannot be shed. One obviously would not write

and this is why, for the sake of uniformity, x is also retained in (4). Traditionally, the identity function is referred to by its value for x as "the function x" – incidentally, a fourth current meaning of the italic letter x.

There is, however, another way to preserve uniformity, namely, by rescuing the identity function from anonymity. If one denotes it by j (so that jx = x and jnx = xn for any x), then (6) reads

and in (6*), x can be shed as in (4):

(6′) D log = j−1 (on the class P of all positive numbers),

The formulas thus obtained (or, if one pleases, the results of calculus in this notation) connect the functions themselves rather than their values and are of algebraic beauty – as it were, streamlined. Yet it is a matter of taste which one prefers: (4′) and (6′) or (4) and (6). But it is a fact (proved at the end of Chapter IV) and not a mere matter of taste that only if the identity function is granted the same status that log and cos have enjoyed for centuries can calculus be (to use another term that is in vogue) completely automatized. Automation is impossible in the classical notation. In the automatized calculus one obtains specific results from general theorems by replacing function variables by the designation of specific functions, and numerical variables by the designations of specific numbers. For instance, from (5) one obtains:

Since, according to (6′), actually D log = jwhere the numerical variables a and b may be replaced by any two numbers in the class P. For instance,

A symbol for the identity function was introduced, as early as 1924, by the Russian logician Schönfinkel and has been adopted by H. B. Curry in his work on combinatoric logic. But whereas in topology extensive use has been made of a symbol for the identity mapping, that for the identity function had not, before the publication of the booklet Algebra of Analysis (see Bibliography), found its way into mathematical analysis – in particular not even into Curry’s own mathematical papers.

To the specialist, perhaps more interesting is the automation of the theory of what, traditionally, is called the theory of functions of two variables. Most important are the functions assuming for every pair (x, y) the values x and y. Traditionally, they are referred to by their values as "the function x" – a fifth meaning of x – and "the function y." In an automatized calculus, they cannot remain anonymous. In Chapter XI they are called the selector functions and are denoted by I and J so that

I(x, y) = x and J(x, y) = y for any x and y.

Chapter XI contains the theories of partial derivatives and partial integrals. Calculus thus developed as an algebra of functions synthesizes the spirit of the oldest logic and that of the most modern machine age.

Extensions of the ideas here expounded to complex functions, to the theory of operators, to random variables, etc. will be given in other publications.

Applications to Science

Perhaps the most important automation is that of the applications of calculus to science. An example is the application of derivatives of functions to rates of change of one fluent with respect to another. The scheme of these applications is the following statement: If w is connected with u by the function fis connected with u by the derivative D f; or

Traditionally, derivative and rate of change are considered as synonyms. But the former operator associates a function with every function of a certain kind; the latter, a fluent with certain pairs of fluents. If, in (7), the function variable f is replaced by sin, the result is

Hence, by virtue of D sin = cos,

(Incidentally, (3) results from (7) by virtue of D(16 j²) = 32 j.) Replacing the fluent variables u and w by the time and the position of a linear oscillator and calling v its velocity one obtains

If in physics one ascertains the validity of s = sin t for an oscillator, then he can conclude that for this oscillator v = cos t.

The contributions of mathematics (D sin = cosand s = sin t) are completely separated, whereby the roles of these two sources of insight into nature are greatly clarified. (7) – it may be repeated – is the general scheme for applying the calculus of derivatives to science. There is an analogous and, in fact, more important scheme for the application of integral calculus to consistent classes of quantities. In Chapter XI, these ideas are extended to partial rates of change and partial derivatives, and are applied to thermodynamics thereby preparing the basic mathematical tools needed in physical chemistry.

On the basis of pure observations alone, all that physics can claim about a falling object is that s equals 16t² within certain limits and that v equals 32t within certain limits. What is the logical connection between these two statements? In Chapter VII it will be shown that, if ˜ denotes is equal within certain limits, then

but that s ˜ 16t² does not, conversely, imply v ˜ 32t; in fact, s 16t² does not permit any inference whatever concerning v. In the realm of strictly observational statements, inferences by integration are highly significant, whereas inferences by differentiation, while often extremely important heuristically, are not of logical character.

Calculus is a theory of pure functions just as arithmetic is a theory of pure numbers. There are analogies between the two in the realms of applications as well as of pure theory, both on the specific and on the general levels.

But there is a difference in attitude. No arithmetician stoops to references to objects, whereas some analysts refuse to raise their eyes above the level of fluent variables. Yet the transition to the pure level does not in any way jeopardize the applicability of arithmetic to feet and inches or of calculus to time and position, nor does the shedding of numerical variables in calculus. The formulas

which are often considered as having the same meaning, really belong to altogether different realms (one using a numerical variable, the other a fluent variable), but both follow from D sin = cos, – the first by evaluation, the second by virtue of (7). Nothing is lost by writing simply D sin = cos or sec = 1/cosand v = 1/p in physics.

Students’ Questions

Within the traditional conceptual frame of calculus it is exceedingly difficult to answer questions pertaining to some classical definitions, statements, and formulas such as the following:

The function x is the function assuming for any x the value x; or the class of all pairs (x, x).

The line 2x + 3y = 5 is the class of all pairs (x, y) such that 2x + 3y = 5, which is the same as the class of all pairs (y, x) such that 2y + 3x =5, but quite different from the line 2y + 3x = 5.

= x and x + 1 are not identical.

For falling objects, s = s(t) = s(v).

The expressions

are not only numerically equal but have precisely the same meaning. On the other hand, if p denotes force, then

and, if one writes p = p(s) = p(t), then even

have not only different meanings (work and impulse) but are, in general, numerically different.

Questions concerning such statements naturally arise in the minds of the very best students. Some of them may be not only disappointed but discouraged in the pursuit of mathematical studies if they do not receive clear answers. Following the approach described in this book, teachers can readily answer these and similar questions.

* The beginner should start on page 1 or the one facing it.

TO THE STUDENT WITH PREVIOUS TRAINING IN CALCULUS ALONG TRADITIONAL LINES

Note. The beginner should omit a reading of this page and start directly with page 1.

1. Instead of a Cartesian cross of axes to which the reader may be accustomed, in Fig. 1 on page 1 he finds (since the Y-axis plays no role in calculus) only a horizontal line with a scale. Above it, there is a curve that intersects every vertical line either in one point or not at all. The curve is (as herein are all such curves) denoted by a symbol in italic type, f; the basic horizontal line, by italic O. Analytic geometry, where the curve is described by y = f(x), and the line by y = 0, will be discussed in Chapter VII.

2. Also on f. These short symbols render, term by term, the words "the area (indicated by ∫) from 2 to 4.5 under the curve f and the area from a to b under f." Since these unambiguous verbal descriptions are perfectly intelligible, the reader will also get used to the parallel abbreviated symbols whose advantages (besides brevity) he will realize as he progresses in the study of this book.

3. The slope of the curve f at 7 is denoted by D f 7, which again follows, term by term, the verbal description (D or f ′(7). Applications to rates of change will be discussed in Chapter VII.

4. On page 4, there is a discussion of the line described in analytic geometry by y = x. This extremely important line is herein given a name and a symbol, just as two important curves are called the logarithmic curve and the cosine curve or the curves log and cos. The line having the altitude x above any point x on the basic horizontal line is called the identity line or the line j.

CHAPTER I

THE TWO BASIC PROBLEMS OF CALCULUS AND THEIR SOLUTIONS FOR STRAIGHT LINES

In Fig. 1 there appears a horizontal line O and a simple curve f. A curve is said to be simple if it intersects no vertical line (i.e., no line perpendicular to O) in more than one point. The letter S is not a simple curve – a fact illustrated by any $-sign; neither is a circle. The upper half and the lower half of a circle, taken separately, are simple curves.

On the line O, a point 0 and a point 1 have been chosen. The segment between them is called a linear unit. The point which is 2 (or any number, a) units to the right of 0 is called the point 2 (the point a). Vertical distances are measured in the linear unit between 0 and 1 turned through a right angle; areas, in square units such as that marked above the segment from 0 to 1.

Fig 1

A domain has been shaded. It is bounded by a portion of the curve f, the segment from 2 to 4.5 on O(read: integral of f from 2 to 4.5). If a and b are any two points on O belonging to the projection of f, then

denotes the area of the domain above O and below f from a to b – briefly, the area under f from a to b.

In Fig. 1, at the point of f above 7, the tangent to that curve has been drawn. HOW STEEP IS THAT TANGENT? In other words, HOW MANY UNITS DOES THE TANGENT RISE VERTICALLY FOR EACH HORIZONTAL UNIT? This question is an example of the second basic problem to be treated in this book. The number in question is called the derivative of f at 7 and will be denoted by D f 7. If x is any point on the projection of f on O, then

denotes the steepness or slope of the tangent to f above the point x – briefly, the slope of f at x.

Approximate solutions of area problems are as old as geometry. For a few special curves, Archimedes (about 250 B.C.) found precise areas and slopes, but in a cumbersome way. The systematic study of the two problems began about 1700, when Newton in England and Leibniz in Germany discovered an exact method applicable to many curves. Their ingenious theory has become known as CALCULUS.

In the attempt to understand and control Nature man is faced with innumerable scientific questions and engineering problems that can be reduced to the determination of areas under simple curves and slopes of tangents. Since these geometric problems can be solved by calculus, calculus has become one of the most powerful of scientific tools and a major factor in the development of modem civilization.

Before the basic problems for curves like f in Fig. 1 are attacked, they will be solved for the most primitive curves imaginable, namely, for straight lines; more specifically, the area under a horizontal line and the slope of a nonvertical line will be determined. In these simple situations, first numerical and then graphical solutions of the problems are presented; finally the solution is given that is based on the idea of Newton and Leibniz.

1. NUMERICAL SOLUTIONS

a. Area. In Fig. 2(a), the horizontal line is drawn that is .5 units above the line O; it is denoted by .5; in Fig. 2(b), the horizontal line − .5 is .5 units below O. More generally, if c is any number, the horizontal line that is c units above the line O will be called the line c − briefly, c. Clearly, O is the line at the altitude 0. (.5, − .5, c for lines are italic type.)

The domain below the line .5 and above O .5 (which denotes the area of this domain) is .5 (5 − 2) = 1.5 square units. More generally,

If c for any a, b, and c. For instance,

Fig. 2a

Fig. 2b

Fig. 2(b) illustrates the last equality. The shaded rectangle of 1.5 square units below O and above the line − .5 is said to be − 1.5 square units above O and below the line − .5.

That the area of this rectangle is negative cannot be proved (nor, of course, disproved) just as it cannot be proved (or disproved) that its altitude is negative. Both statements express conventions concerning the use of the words area and altitude. The conventions are universally adopted because they are useful in distinguishing between the altitudes of the shaded rectangles in Fig. 2(a) and (b), and between the areas of these two rectangles. Without these conventions both rectangles would have the altitude .5 and the area 1.5.

b. Slope. In Fig. 3, l denotes the straight line that has the altitude 1 above the point 2, and the altitude 2.5 above the point 5 on O. These facts are conveniently expressed in the formulas

More generally, the altitude of l above any point a on O − briefly, the altitude of l at a – will be denoted by l a.

The difference l 5 − l 2 is called the rise of l . More generally, if a and b are any two numbers, then l a and l

By the slope of l at 2 (which, according to what was said on p. 2, will be denoted by D l 2) is meant the ratio of the rise of l from 2 to any other point, say 5, to the distance on O from 2 to that point; in a formula,

Hence D l 2 = .5.

From similar triangles in

Fig. 3

Hence, for any a on O Similarly one sees:

If m is any nonvertical straight line and a is any point on O, then

For instance, let j denote (as it will throughout this book) the line having the altitude 0 at 0, the altitude 2 at 2, the altitude − 3 at − 3 – more generally, the line which, for any number x has the altitude x above the point x on O; in a formula, j is the line for which

Then

x above the point x. This line (which, incidentally, is the line l in jat any x.

j and 1j + 1. Its slope at a is

Similarly, − 3 j + 2 would denote the line having at any x the altitude − 3x + 2 (the sum of the altitudes of the lines − 3 j and 2). Its slope at any x is D(− 3 j + 2) x = − 3.

It is left to the reader to verify that, if l is any nonvertical straight line, there are two numbers c and c′, such that, for any number x, the altitude of l above the point x on O is cx + c′. If this line is denoted by c j + c′, then

EXERCISES

INTRODUCTORY NOTE. On the preceding pages, numerals and letters in roman type (0, 1, 7, a, c, x, etc.) designate numbers or points on the line O; whereas numerals and letters in italic type designate simple curves (the horizontal lines O, .5, c, etc., the nonvertical lines l, j, etc., the curve f). This typographical distinction will be maintained throughout this book. If in longhand (on paper or on a blackboard) the distinction between roman and italic type should be difficult, one may denote

If one avoids j and f as designations of numbers, then he may omit the underlining in the designation of the line j and the curve f. But one must not omit it in the symbols for the horizontal lines O, .5, and c, since 0, .5, and c designate numbers.

The letters x and y will be avoided as designations of altitudes of horizontal lines. The reason is that lines with the altitudes x and y would have to be denoted by x and y, whereas we wish to reserve the letters x and y (in italics) for concepts of analytic geometry discussed in Chapter VII.

Finally, it should be noted that, in this book, the symbols

remain undefined, and therefore meaningless. A number has neither a slope, nor an area, nor a weight, nor a color, ….

1. On cross-section paper, draw figures illustrating

to cases where b is less than a (that is, the point b on O c positive and when negative?

4. Determine the numbers c1 and c0 in such a way that c1 j + c0 is the line having

5. On cross-section paper, draw figures illustrating D (2 j + 3)a = 2 for (a) a = 1.5 using b = 3; (b) a = − 3 using b = − 1; (c) a = − 1 using b = 2. Then illustrate D (2 j + 3)(− l) = 2 using any point b.

6. Show that D (− 2 j + 3)2 = D(− 2 j + 4)2 = D (− 2 j - 1)2 and illustrate this equality on cross-section paper.

2. GRAPHICAL SOLUTIONS

a. Slope and Slope Line. The slope of a nonvertical line can be determined graphically. No knowledge of arithmetical division (used in the numerical solution of the slope problem) is presupposed. However, parallel lines have to be drawn (an operation not needed in the numerical solution).

In Fig. 4, the slope of the line l at a is determined as follows: Through the point a on O, the segment m parallel to l is drawn, whose projection on O and the base is b − a. In the small triangle, the height is m (a + 1) (that is, the altitude of m at a + 1), and the base is (a + 1) − a = 1. Hence the proportion

The quotient on the right side is equal to m (a + 1). The quotient on the left side is equal to the slope D l a. Consequently

Hence the following

Graphical Solution of the Slope Problem for Nonvertical Lines. To find the slope of l at a, construct m as indicated, and measure the altitude of m at a + 1.

In Fig. 4 there appears also the horizontal line of altitude D l a, which passes through the terminal point of m. This line will be called

the slope line of l or the derivative of l − briefly, D l.

Fig. 4

The horizontal line D l has the same altitude at any point of O, just as the line l has the same slope at any point. The slope line of the horizontal line 3 is the line O; in a formula, D 3 = O. More generally, D c = O for any horizontal line c.

Since, if l is a line, l 3 and l a (for any a) are numbers, D (l 3) and D(l a) are undefined symbols. Therefore D l 3 cannot mean anything but the slope of l at 3 or the altitude, (D l)3, at 3 of the slope line D l. This is why, from the outset, symbols such as D l 2,Dj)x, etc. have been used and could be used without any ambiguity.

b. Area and Area Lines. c, the area of the shaded domain under the horizontal line c from a to b in Fig. 5, can also be determined graphically. Draw the line k joining the point a on O to the point on the line c above the point a + 1 on O. The right triangles in Fig. 5 whose hypotenuses lie on the line k are similar. In the small triangle, the height is c linear units,

Fig. 5

and the base is (a + 1) − a = 1 unit. In the large triangle, the height is k b linear units (the altitude of the line k at b), the base is b − a units. Because of the similarity of the triangles, the four numbers k are multiplied by the number b − a, the result is k c, it follows that

that is to say, the number of square units in the shaded rectangle is equal to the number of linear units in the altitude of k c, construct the line k as indicated and measure its altitude at b. The situation is particularly clear on cross-section paper. E.g., in

Fig. 6

Fig. 6 the shaded rectangle under the line .5 .5 = 1.5. The construction yields a line k of the altitude 1.5 above the point 5 on O. Thus, in the vertical segment from that point to the line k there are as many linear units as there are square units in the shaded rectangle. In other words, the number of linear units in that segment is equal to the product of the numbers of linear units in the two perpendicular sides of the shaded rectangle.

The age in years of a father, say 35, may be equal to the product of the ages in years, 7 and 5, of his children, and there is nothing paradoxical about this fact. Of course, it must not be expressed by saying that the father is the product of the two children. Nor should one say that the vertical segment from 5 to k is the product of two perpendicular sides of the rectangle.

The line k in .5 .5 .5 at 4 and 3 respectively. In fact, for any number b between 0 and 5, the altitude of k at b equals the area under .5 .5, the area of a rectangle whose base is 0.) For this reason, the line k in Fig. 6 will be called the 2-area line of the horizontal line .5 or the 2-integral of .5.5; in a formula,

in Fig. 6,

Similarly, in Fig. 5, the altitude of the line k at any point b′ that one might mark on O would be equal to the area under c from a to b′, wherefore k c. Clearly, k is the only line whose altitudes are thus related to the areas under c.

Since k a = 0, the altitude k b′ of k at any point b′ is equal to the rise of k from a to b′. In a formula,

But the last equality holds also for some lines other than k, for instance for the line l (parallel to k) in Fig. 5, and, in fact, for any line that is parallel to k. Indeed any such line has the same rise from x to x′ as has k. Any such line is therefore called an area line or an integral of c. The a-are a line of c is the one that has the altitude 0 at a (or crosses the line O at a). The line l in Fig. 5 is the .5-area line of c c. For any number h, there is an area line of c having the altitude h at a.

The preceding results yield the following rule:

Graphical Solution of the Area Problem for Horizontal Lines. To find the area under the horizontal line c from a to b, construct an area line as indicated in Fig. 5 (either k or any line parallel to k) and measure its rise from a to b.

The reader may wonder why, besides k, area lines parallel to k are even considered. Those lines will play an important role in Chapter II.

EXERCISES

7. Which of the following are numbers and which are lines?

8. On cross-section paper construct the slope and the slope line of l, if:

(a) l 1 = 1.5 and l 1.5 = 2.75

(b) l 4 = 1 and l 6.5 = − 2.75

(c) l 1 = − 2 and l 1.5 = − .75

(d) l 1 = − 2 and13 = .5

(e) l 2 = 1 and l 3.5 = 1

(f) l = 2 j + 1

(g) l = − 3 j + 2

(h) l = − 5.

Check the results by the numerical method. Then draw nonvertical lines and determine their slopes graphically without measuring the altitudes of the lines anywhere. Only one mensuration is indispensable in each case: that of the altitude of the slope line.

9. What can be said about the slope line of a line which (a) has the rise 0 from a to b? (b) has the rise r from a to a + 1 ? (c) has the rise 1 from a to b ? Show that a straight line l is a simple curve if and only if l is not vertical.

10. For what lines l is (a) D l = l; (b) D l parallel to l ? (c) Prove that if l = cj + c′ (see p. 5), then c = D l 0 and c′ = l 0.

11. On cross-section paper construct

(a) 2 (Count the number of unit squares or halves of unit squares under the line 2 from 2 to 3.5, and measure the rise of the area line from 2 to 3.5.)

positive square root of 2. (In these cases, the rectangles cannot be broken up into fractions of unit squares as the rectangles in Fig. 6. But the results of the constructions can be checked by the numerical method.)

(c)

(d) The areas under portions of horizontal lines without measuring the altitudes of these lines or the lengths of the portions. Only one mensuration is indispensable in each case: that of the rise of an area