Introduction to Calculus

class="introduction"

class="key-equations" title="Key Equations"

class="key-concepts" title="Key Concepts"

class="review-exercises" title="Review Exercises"

class="practice-test" title="Practice Test"

class="try"

class="section-exercises"

Runner Usain Bolt beginning a race

The eight-time world champion and winner of six Olympic gold medals in sprinting, Usain Bolt has truly earned his nickname as the “fastest man on Earth.” Also known as the “lightning bolt,” he set the track on fire by running at a top speed of 27.79 mph—the fastest time ever recorded by a human runner.

Like the fastest land animal, a cheetah, Bolt does not run at his top speed at every instant. How then, do we approximate his speed at any given instant? We will find the answer to this and many related questions in this chapter.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

You can also download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/fd53eae1-fa23-47c7-bb1b-972349835c3c@8.1

Attribution:

For questions regarding this license, please contact partners@openstaxcollege.org.
If you use this textbook as a bibliographic reference, then you should cite it as follows: OpenStax College, Precalculus. OpenStax CNX. http://cnx.org/contents/fd53eae1-fa23-47c7-bb1b-972349835c3c@8.1.
If you redistribute this textbook in a print format, then you must include on every physical page the following attribution: "Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/fd53eae1-fa23-47c7-bb1b-972349835c3c@8.1."
If you redistribute part of this textbook, then you must retain in every digital format page view (including but not limited to EPUB, PDF, and HTML) and on every physical printed page the following attribution: "Download for free at http://cnx.org/contents/fd53eae1-fa23-47c7-bb1b-972349835c3c@8.1."