ABSTRACT
Differential calculus finds the gradient or slope of a function, which is the rate of change of the function at a particular point, such as the instantaneous speed of an accelerating object. If we are interested in the way non-linear biological processes such as
● population growth over time, ● enzyme kinetics as the substrate concentration increases, ● the development period of butterfly larvae as the temperature increases
change then we are likely to want to be able to define the rates of change using differentiation. (The rate of change of linear functions is, of course, constant (see Topic D1) though differentiation still works for such functions.) Note that the ‘rate of change’ does not just apply.
