Calculus

Abstract

Many years ago one of my good friends was married to a fascinating woman who was a disciple of occult practices. I remember her telling me of the existence of a giant cave deep within the Himalayan Mountains. She claimed inside this cave Tibetan priests had hidden ancient books filled with ancient (and secret) knowledge. I always believed the account to be anecdotal, yet it tickles the imagination to wonder what would have been in such books had they existed. If I were responsible to fill such a book with humankind’s purest and most profound knowledge, what would I put inside? I don’t have to think very hard. I’d fill the book with all the mathematics at my command, for mathematics is the purest, most universal, most condensed knowledge we can possess. And if I had too little room to place all my mathematical knowledge within the book, what would come first? Calculus. And we now begin a look at humankind’s greatest treasure—The Calculus.