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Earliest real-world uses of Calculus and Linear Algebra
I want to illustrate in class that real-world applications of mathematics might take time to come to fruit. In this context, I want to find what the earliest real-world applications of Calculus and Linear Algebra were. By real-world application, I mean a device, instrument or technology which made lives better and would have been simply impossible without Calculus or Linear Algebra.
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2 Answers
Maybe Archimedes' figuring out that the volume of a sphere is 2/3 the volume of the smallest cylinder surrounding that sphere? This work was performed some time in the third century BCE.
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Back in Greece long ago around 400 to 200 BC by Eudoxus and Archimedes according to Wikipedia calculating the area under a parabola for instance.
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Earliest real-world uses of Calculus and Linear Algebra
I want to illustrate in class that real-world applications of mathematics might take time to come to fruit. In this context, I want to find what the earliest real-world applications of Calculus and Linear Algebra were. By real-world application, I mean a device, instrument or technology which made lives better and would have been simply impossible without Calculus or Linear Algebra.
3262 silver badges4 bronze badges
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Maybe Archimedes' figuring out that the volume of a sphere is 2/3 the volume of the smallest cylinder surrounding that sphere? This work was performed some time in the third century BCE.
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