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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply the Best!, December 28, 2000
By A Customer
I can honestly say that this is the best textbook I have ever used in any subject whatsoever. I do not say this out of a love for Calculus, but out of an appreciation for how pedagogically sound this text is. All authors should strive for such clarity.As stated, there is no text, in my opinion, more suited towards use in any introductory Calculus series, but this text is also ideal for self-study. The theory is presented in crystal clear fashion, and then multiple examples are given in order of increasing complexity. Each chapter culminates with a series of well-chosen problems and odd-numbered problems have answers in the back. For self-study, the latter detail is of most importance, yet it doesn't end there! A companion guide is also available (by Heyd) that works out, in detail, many of the odd-numbered problems. The figures within the text are chosen well, so that they demonstrate the matter at hand. It is *NOT* the case that there are pictures just for the sake of pictures. Short biographical sketches of important mathematicians who developed parts of the calculus are included in the relevant chapters, which I found interesting to read even though it certainly was not assigned reading! "Career Interview(s)" in which a person who has a career in applied mathematics gives a brief description of what they do are also included at the end of many chapters. I have found the overall setup of the book exceptional in the order in which the chapters are presented and in the location of a multitude of important theorems and formulas that are in the front and back covers. I should also mention that at the end of many of the chapters, a reference is made to a journal article or two "for further reading". I found these excellent, as our library subscribed to these journals and they were indeed well-suited for anyone to read who had just completed the chapter at hand. These articles always had very interesting applications or simply inventive pure mathematics as their topics. As a student, I am lucky to have taken the initiative to even follow Larson's advice and look into one of these articles. I would urge anyone teaching from this book to perhaps assign some of those articles as out of class reading or talk about them in class if time permits. I used this text for my series of three four credit courses, Calculus I, II, and III, and I think that adopting this text to use in that series of courses was the best thing the Mathematics Department at my school has done. Do not be fooled into thinking this is a book that would be of little interest to junior-senior undergrads and 1st-2nd year graduates. I was amazed when I found out infinite series and vector analysis is sometimes considered "advanced" calculus, even though it is presented here with such clarity that it seems far from advanced. Cheers for Larson! (I refer to the fifth edition above)
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