User:ShaunaMaty

Calculus in Medicine

       In the future, I would like to continue my studies in order to pursue a career in the medical field. Regardless of what component I decide to specialize in, a good basis of calculus will guide me in many facets of this field because of the underlying lessons that come from studying calculus. While calculus is mainly about solving problems, the intrinsic lessons it teaches are a good preparation for the copious amount of problem solving and basic math skills that I will undoubtedly be exposed to in the world of medicine. 

Doctors working in hospitals must constantly check on patients to ensure that they have the correct dosages of pharmaceuticals in their system as to make sure that medication administration will not be harmful. Wrong dosages can lead to permanent internal injury and, most traumatically, death. A more common and typical example of this is overdosing. In addition, doctors would be required to know the ratios of height, weight, and BMI of their patients and how these numbers would correlate to certain dosages. Besides drugs in medicine, calculus can also be applied to being able to predict the amount of supplies it needs to sustain the hospital or clinic. This could be done by looking at graphs from previous years of how much each item was used and coming up with a relative equation that reflects the amount of supply from previous years. For example, an organ donation center would need to be able to calculate a certain quota for a hospital and make a reasonable estimate of how many of each organ they could possibly need for the future. Being able to interpret and make predictions about these numbers is derived from calculus. In addition to its practical applications in a medical workplace, the problem solving and logistical skills gained by studying calculus are immediately transferrable to any medical career. As we know, both medicine and calculus require a great deal of familiarity of numbers and problem solving. However, the more calculus is studied, the idea of finding different ways to figure out problems becomes increasingly prominent. Since the medical field can potentially be very unpredictable, it is imperative that doctors are able to think quickly on their feet while simultaneously ensuring that the vital signs of the patients are stable. Heart rate, blood pressure, metabolic rate, and respiratory rate are all important and are identified in the medical world by numbers. For example, blood pressure is represented by systolic pressure over diastolic pressure. In other words, the highest pressure within the blood stream during the time the heart beats over the lowest pressure occurring between heartbeats - in “doctor talk” 120/80 mmHg. Numbers like these are important to recognize because it clarifies the difference between a normal blood pressure and one that is indicative of dangerous hypertension. By having this basis of calculus in medicine, problem solving skills and the ability to interpret numbers are sharpened and will be extremely useful in this field. Whether we like it or not, the world is surrounded by math, and could not function without it.

My name is Shauna Maty and I am a first year in the Faculty of Arts. I'm from Colorado and I play hockey.

Rene Descartes, a famous French mathematician, brought forth analytical geometry in 1637. Descartes’ discoveries within analytic geometry were a gateway to calculus and for other great discoveries by Sir Isaac Newton and G.W. Leibniz. Analytical geometry is a branch of geometry that involves using points in respect to a coordinate system; most commonly, the Cartesian coordinate system. In fact, this coordinate system which Descartes created still bears his name today. His method to his findings were primarily algebraic, leading to his discoveries in analytic geometry to help find distances, slopes, midpoints and other equations to help with reading graphs. Essentially, he is credited with having made the important connection of geometry and algebra: the solving of geometrical problems by way of algebraic equations. Descartes’ findings gave him the ability to seamlessly blend the analytical tools of algebra and the visual immediacy of geometry by conjuring up a way to actually visualize algebraic functions. His brilliant ideas were eventually published in 1637 in a treatise called "La geometrie."

Works Cited: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes/