Hey I was wondering if there are any practical applications of calculus in programming games? I''m taking a few courses in it right now and it might help to make it more interesting =)

One application that I thought of a while back while going through vector field function in Calc III was doing real time wind. Imagine being able to simulate wind using a function that can be altered by variables. You would have a real wind pattern in the game. If you were really good, you could design a function that wrapped the wind around buildings and stuff... Endless possibilities.

Otherwise using Calc II you can do a lot with 3D editors and such. For the most part I think it is used as a very high end part of programming. It''s not always needed, or used. But when you come across something that you just don''t have any other way to do it, it''s nice to have Calc to fall back on.

Always remember, you''''re unique. Just like everyone else.

Well, if you want super-ultra-mega realistic physics, then calculus is a necessity

Very often, programmers use formulas derived from calculus without even noticing that it is the case. Even the basic movement formula:

x = x0 + v0*t + 0.5*a*t²

comes from calculus, but you don''t have to know that to use it.

Cédric

Ever heard of Calculus-based Physics courses? That''s one hella big application!

ya, calculus was, in fact, invented by newton so he could explain physics. calculus == newtonian physics at its core.

if you ever want to understand mechanical physics, you need to know calculus. once you know calculus, mechanical physics is one of the easier subjects, b/c you can derive any equation from a few simple ones. so you no longer need to memorize anything.

there are also tons of applications of multi-variable calculus in 3D geometry, like gradients and taylor series and such.

it''s one of the more handy domains of math for game programming if you want to have that intuitive understanding of things.

-me