Calculus in Context: Introducing Calculus Ideas through Epidemiology Models

Abstract:

Now is probably as good a time as any, unfortunately, to argue for a first-semester Calculus course that begins with the S-I-R, or Susceptible-Infected-Recovered, dynamical system from epidemiology. I’ll describe how I use S-I-R to kick-start a course, that, eventually, gets to all of the usual Calc I stuff, and is richly satisfying to math geeks (like me) while still appealing to students who are perhaps less geeky, or geeky in different directions. This course is based on the brilliantly subversive, but wonderfully accessible, text Calculus and Context by the Five-College Calculus Team: James Callahan, David A. Cox, Kenneth R. Hoffman, Donal O’Shea, Harriet Pollatsek, and Lester Senechal.