Calculus for Babies

A quarter-odd century ago, I came across Donald Cohen’s Calculus by and for Young People (Ages 7, Yes 7 and Up) (1989). The co-founder and teacher of The Math Program subscribed to the philosophy that children are capable of behaving as (little) mathematicians.

Apparently, kids could be exposed to a quasi-formal treatment of integration and differentiation without an ∫ or a dy/dx.

Little could I divine that three and a half decades later a physicist-mathematician-turned-science author would tease tiger or kiasu parents with his Calculus for Babies.

Photo © Anon.

Cal 4 Babies & Toddlers

After Chris Ferrie’s Pythagorean Theorem for Babies came out in 2022, I knew that it’d be just a matter of time before the author would give us Calculus for Babies (2024), under the “bestselling” Baby University series.

Two days ago, I finally laid my hands on the anticipated title, which claims to introduce babies (and reminds grownups!) to the basic concepts behind calculus, arguably “explained in an easy-to-understand and fun way!”

Sounds like when you’re a mathepreneur, no audience is ever too young to learn the basics of any abstract or advanced math. Or the unspoken assumption that nurturing a little genius at home is possible even if your baby isn’t born or blessed with the “mathematical gene.”

Yes, it seems that it’s never too early to become a mathematician or scientist (as long as you’d afford to pamper your child with the [best?] oft-dear math titles or resources).

Before Ferrie’s Calculus for Babies was published on July 2, 2024, Esmond Cooper had come with a similar title on June 28, 2023. Debatably, Cooper’s “simplified guide introduces young minds to the fundamental concepts of calculus in a way that is clear, engaging, and accessible.” 

Cooper’s Calculus for Babies “aims to make learning enjoyable and foster a love for math from an early age, providing a strong basis for future mathematical understanding.”

After the success of sexy titles like Calculus for Cats (2001) and How to Teach Quantum Physics to Your Dog (2010), publishers probably bet that the next wave of pop math titles targeting parents who think that they’ve been blessed with a “talented or gifted” child should focus on calculus—and for unknown reasons not on algebra or geometry or trigonometry.

Interestingly, as far back as 2011, Omi M. Inouye had published a 54-page Introductory Calculus for Infants, which is about the mathematical adventure of two buddies as they discover the wonders of calculus.

From Beethoven to Newton & Leibniz 

If pregnant women are already playing classical music or reading bedtime stories to their unborn, it’s not preposterous that in a-not-too-distant future, some pre-rich writers or publishers would give birth to Pre-Calculus or Calculus for Your Unborn Child.

Just because calculus is the bête noire of college math, it doesn’t mean that your [talented, gifted, or blessed] newborn or toddler or preschooler can’t handle it. They can if you think they can!

Differentially & integrally yours

© Yan Kow Cheong, December 2, 2024.