While preparing a lecture on nineteenth-century English economic history shortly after World War 2, I learned that there existed no satisfactory life of John Loudon McAdam. This seemed surprising, in view of the immense popularity he attained in his own day, even leaving his name a legacy to the language symbolising the tremendous progress achieved by hie native country during a period of great economic flux. It then became my hope to present a study of McAdam for a doctoral dissertation if sufficient material could be found.

The aim of this paper is to summarize Professor McAdam’s course on the applications of calculus by showing how calculus can be applied within mathematical situations by understanding concepts in physics. Aside from using calculus to assist in maximizing or minimizing situational problems, it is important to understand how the rules of calculus came to be. This paper shows origins of a few of the many rules used in calculus, applications in economics, plane flight, dogs fetching sticks, and relativity in space. / text