Derivatives Before Limits
Jeff Eldridge • Edmonds College
Learn how to compute derivatives of polynomials and trigonometric functions (and their inverses) without defining limits (formally or otherwise). Hear an argument that we should start teaching derivatives at the beginning of Calculus I, rather than after a review of precalculus followed by a detour into limits and continuity.
- presentation slides (PDF)
- visual derivatives of trigonometric functions (Desmos)
- product rule animation (Desmos)
- tangent lines without calculus (James Tanton)
- Visual Complex Analysis (Tristam Needham)
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