When I took calculus in my
first college-degree program, the graduate-student instructor didn’t bother to
tell the class that a derivative signifies changes in the rate of acceleration.
A derivative is not the rate itself, but, rather, the change in the rate—something
much more difficult to detect empirically, as in watching an accelerating car. Formulae
were the instructor’s focus, as if they constitute ends in themselves. By the
time the climate numbers for 2025 came in, scientists could confidently say global
warming was accelerating. The rate itself may have been increasing (i.e., a
positive derivative), but attention to that by the media would have taken an
educational reform as to how calculus was being taught. We think in terms of speed
and acceleration. In this respect, we may be deficient in climate change itself
as it has been unfolding. More decades than I care to admit had passed by 2025
since I had that course in calculus; only now can I say that I have used the
math, albeit theoretically rather than via formulae.
The full essay is at "Global Warming Accelerating."
