I think a lot of the time it is just too abstract to grasp. I think the first time in my life where I was really happy to have learned calculus for my own intrinsic benefit was a few weeks ago, when I set up Home Assistant in an effort to automatically minimize heat in my apartment. It wasn't enough to tell the shade to come down at a certain temperature, because the apartment would already be too hot. So instead I could take the derivative of the temperature of my apartment, allowing me to get out ahead of the worst part of the blast of sun. After all, if the temperature is increasing very quickly, we should act to stop it.
I've used a decent amount of calculus in my life, but that was the first time I had been actually happy to have learned it.
I've used a decent amount of calculus in my life, but that was the first time I had been actually happy to have learned it.