ECT Python Program: Instantaneous Rate of Change
At a glance…
Core subject(s) | Mathematics | ||
Subject area(s) | Calculus | ||
Suggested age | 16 to 18 years old |
Use this program to apply students’ knowledge of determining the instantaneous rate of change for a given function and automatically calculate it for a given function. Have students analyze, fill in parts of, or use the program to check results to exercises they are already working on. This program aligns with CA Math Standard: Calculus 4.2. This program could be used to further your understanding of how you could use Python in the classroom, as a demonstration or discussion with your students, or as a way to introduce various CT concepts, such as pattern recognition or abstraction, to your students by inviting them to extend the existing functionality of the program.
# Copyright 2015 Google Inc. All Rights Reserved. # Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); # you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. # You may obtain a copy of the License at # http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 # Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software # distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, # WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and # limitations under the License. """Calculate the instantaneous rate of change""" def g(x): return x**2 # function D() takes as input g(x), and a small value for h (0.001) # this function calculates the derivative def D(function, h = 1e-3): def derivative(x): deriv=(function(x + h) - function(x)) / h return round(deriv, 3) return derivative # compute rate of change rate_of_change = D(g) # and then instantaneous rate of change for a particular value instantaneous_rate_of_change = rate_of_change(26) print instantaneous_rate_of_change |
Concept | Definition | |
Abstraction | Identifying and extracting relevant information to define main idea(s) | |
Pattern Recognition | Observing patterns, trends, and regularities in data | |
* Explore the Computational Thinking Concepts Guide for a list of the CT concepts noted on ECT, including tips for implementing each concept in your classroom
Contact info | For more info about Exploring Computational Thinking (ECT), visit the ECT website (g.co/exploringCT) |
Credits | Developed by the Exploring Computational Thinking team at Google and reviewed by K-12 educators from around the world. |
Last updated on | 01/15/2015 |
Copyright info | Except as otherwise noted, the content of this document is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, and code samples are licensed under the Apache 2.0 License. |
ECT Python Program: Instantaneous Rate of Change of