Sometimes, less is more. Multiple variables can just be kind of…busy. If you’re into a simpler aesthetic, we’d like to suggest sticking to just one variable for the moment. You can leap on the trend (stay ahead of the curve!) with MA101: Single-Variable Calculus I on iTunes U.

Four hundred years young, The Calculus was developed by Leibniz and Newton to conveniently describe/manipulate functions, rates of change, and continuity. Much of what we take for granted either wouldn’t exist without Calc or would be punishingly difficult to achieve.

MA101, a member of the Old Guard over at Saylor.org, joins 32 other courses on the Saylor Foundation channel at  iTunes U. You can get the web preview of the course here.

A word to the wise: like all of our iTunes U courses, this one is much better (and more fully-featured) when viewed on an iOS device rather than on a personal computer, but you can always dive into the ‘standard’ version here at Saylor.org, and dig into 279 other free courses besides.

Finally, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention that our newest course, MA101-EXC, is a souped-up version of MA101 that is aligned to one of Excelsior College’s UExcel exams.  Taking our free course and passing the $95 exam with UExcel gets you four ACE-recommended credit hours recognized at a whole bunch of higher education institutions. Excelsior College even has articulation agreements with a large number of schools for all-but-guaranteed credit. If you want to know more, Devon Ritter is the man to talk to, but a great place to start is with our Student Credit Pathways page on EC.