High School Calculus in Wisconsin
Calculus is one of the most important math courses Wisconsin high school students take. It introduces the ideas of limits, derivatives, and integrals — tools that describe how things change and accumulate. StudyPug covers every major Calculus topic with video lessons and practice problems aligned to Wisconsin Standards for Math.
Limits and Continuity
Students start by understanding limits graphically and numerically. They learn to evaluate limits using substitution, identify types of discontinuities, and analyze end behavior of functions as they approach infinity. These foundational ideas are essential for everything that follows in Calculus.
Derivatives
The derivative section covers the definition of the derivative as a rate of change and slope of a tangent line. Students learn differentiation rules including the power rule, product rule, quotient rule, and chain rule. They also find derivatives of trigonometric, exponential, and logarithmic functions, as well as implicitly defined functions.
Applications of Derivatives
Once students can find derivatives, they apply them to real problems. Topics include finding equations of tangent lines, linear approximation, identifying critical points, solving optimization problems, analyzing increasing and decreasing behavior, and sketching curves. Students also solve related rates problems and connect derivatives to velocity and acceleration.
Integrals
The integral section begins with antiderivatives and moves into Riemann sums for approximating definite integrals. Students use the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus to evaluate definite integrals and apply the substitution method to more complex integrals.
Applications of Integrals
Students use integrals to find areas under curves and between curves, calculate displacement and distance from velocity functions, and find the average value of a function over an interval. These applications connect Calculus to physics, engineering, and other real-world contexts.
- Limits and continuity — graphical, numerical, and algebraic approaches
- Derivatives — all major differentiation rules and function types
- Optimization, curve sketching, and related rates
- Antiderivatives, Riemann sums, and the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus
- Area, displacement, and average value using definite integrals