Letter to Calculus

Dear Calculus,

I pick my pen from a basket of roses after so long and I trust you are doing well, if so doxology.

The impression you gave us in the beginning was that you were all we would ever need.

It was an easy Trap designed to Entrap,
Even though it constantly needed me to Recap.

At some point, it started to seem like Crap.

But Hey! For every time I was wrong; I got a Slap,

Reminding me I had to be right so they’d do me a Clap.

You started out with Simple Ideas.

Gradually evolving into complex concepts:

Having to draw circles and sticks only to cross them out;

Definitely was an easy route to an unknown destination.

But then you introduced figures and called it Arithmetic.

As I grew older, you showed your true colors cos

I didn’t just have to memorize figures but symbols too.

That you called Geometry.

With you, there certainly was no stopping cos

You then created problems out of conversations

Calling it ‘Word Problems’ (Yes, a problem: That’s what it is).

 

The introduction of words apparently became your grand excuse to merge numbers with letters giving birth to Algebra.

The unsung hero that constantly helped make meaning of the problem earlier created with the use of Linear, Simultaneous and sometimes Quadratic Equations.

 

All said and done, you’ve outdone yourself and transcended.

Ascended and occasionally pretended.

With a myriad of reforms intended.

To ensure I stayed informed.

For the version of you yet to be unveiled;

Calculus: One that eliminated numbers and left us with letters and signs that shall follow them that believed….

Dear dy/dx, who you don epp sef?

 

About the Writer: Nifemi is a Digital Payments Analyst by profession but has a passion driven side that is expressed in writing and Music. An Economics graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University, a lot of his writings are an inseparable combination of fact and fiction. He writes at shrewdnifex.wordpress.com