Calculus: Euler's Method Introduction

Objectives

• Use Euler’s method to create a graphical approximation to the solution to a differential equation
• Use Euler’s method to find an approximate numerical function value of the solution to a differential equation
• Describe how various factors affect the accuracy of Euler's method, including initial condition and step size

Vocabulary

• Euler’s method
• differential equation
• initial condition
• step size
• local linearity
• concavity

About the Lesson

This lesson involves using Euler’s method to visualize the graph of an approximate solution to a differential equation and to estimate a specific value of a solution. Students visualize and make sense out of an important numerical technique in the study of elementary differential equations.