Calculus is a branch of mathematics that involves the study of rates of change. Before calculus was invented, all math was static: It could only help calculate objects that were perfectly still. But the universe is constantly moving and changing. No objects—from the stars in space to subatomic particles or cells in the body—are always at rest. Indeed, just about everything in the universe is constantly moving. Calculus helped to determine how particles, stars, and matter actually move and change in real time.

There are 2 different fields of calculus. The first subfield is called differential calculus. Using the concept of function derivatives, it studies the behavior and rate on how different quantities change. Using the process of differentiation, the graph of a function can actually be computed, analyzed, and predicted. The second subfield is called integral calculus. Integration is actually the reverse process of differentiation, concerned with the concept of the anti-derivative. Either a concept, or at least semblances of it, has existed for centuries already. Even though these 2 subfields are generally different form each other, these 2 concepts are linked by the fundamental theorem of calculus.

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