Calculus Methods: Differentiation

Aspiring physicians often regard calculus as a subject for high school and college students—a requirement for passing their classes before leaving it behind forever. But in medicine, a fundamental understanding of calculus helps to drive important aspects of patient care.

For example, as a physician, when determining what the optimal dosing and administration frequency of a drug should be (e.g., “Take two capsules twice a day”), you must complete considerable behind-the-scenes work to determine the drug’s concentration over time in the body, to prevent both under- and overdosing. The way this is calculated is with calculus! In fact, this tracking can be accomplished using differential equation, a mathematical statement containing one or more derivatives—that is, terms representing the rates of change of continuously varying quantities.