AN APPROACH TO LEARNING DIFFERENTIAL CALCULUS THROUGH ECONOMICS

The learning of Differential Calculus and of the concept and properties of derived functions are a very remarkable topic in the curriculum of Mathematics Applied to Social Sciences in the first year of Baccalaureate, as this point puts forward many applications, for instance, to Economics or Sociology. However, the abstraction of this concept entails many difficulties for students in their learning process and consequently, in spite of being able to make simple calculus with functions, students do not often reach the sense and the exact meaning of these basic notions.
We present an alternative methodological proposal for the study of this topic, which is based on a strategy of interdisciplinary approach between Mathematics and Economics, and whose purpose is to reach a significant learning on this matter. We employ the concepts of derived function as a change proportion among magnitudes and we use this in the approach of a percentage change within the marginal analysis appearing in Economics. We show how some economical concepts such as the elasticity or the marginal costs may allow our students to carry out some processes of conversion between different registries from representation, both economical and mathematical, and how these are interrelated.