AP Calc: Week 13 - Still Ahhhhhh!

Oh man, what a week. You'd think that things would get easier after the hectic chapter 3! However, this is an AP class, so I guess I should expect things to only get harder. Oh well. We had a quiz over the whole "graphing without a calculator" stuff. I think I finally understand most of it, but I really dont understand what the point of that section was. Just in regards to times you would actually use that information, I can't think of any time you would need to graph something of that sort without having a calculator or a computer right next to you. However, I do understand that it is important to know how to do things without a calculator, and I guess it's important to understand how the derivatives relate to the graph. I just wonder how the guy that discovered all of this figured it out! This new stuff about optimization, however, I really don't understand. I think I finally understand what we are trying to do, but I still struggle with actually doing it. Also, I am not totally sure what the derivative has to do with anything, but somehow it still all works. Maybe I should stop questioning the "why" and just worry about the "how"? This has been a really productive week and I am really excited (although anxious) for the new trimester!