Yep! Archimedes was essentially doing integrals 2000 years ago. He got close to infinitesimals, and centuries later we had derivatives and limits. It's strange

Yep! Archimedes was essentially doing integrals 2000 years ago. He got close to infinitesimals, and centuries later we had derivatives and limits. It's strange to teach them in the reverse order (i.e. Most sophisticated theory first, like teaching the reals before the integers). I have an online series that starts with the historic order which you might like: http://betterexplained.com/calculus/lesson-1 http://betterexplained.com/calculus/lesson-1