Calculus: Concepts and Contexts (Stewart's Calculus Series) [Hardcover]

James Stewart (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 9, 2009 | ISBN-10: 0495557420 | ISBN-13: 978-0495557425 | Edition: 4

Stewart's CALCULUS: CONCEPTS AND CONTEXTS, FOURTH EDITION offers a streamlined approach to teaching calculus, focusing on major concepts and supporting those with precise definitions, patient explanations, and carefully graded problems. CALCULUS: CONCEPTS AND CONTEXTS is highly regarded because this text offers a balance of theory and conceptual work to satisfy more progressive programs as well as those who are more comfortable teaching in a more traditional fashion. Each title is just one component in a comprehensive calculus course program that carefully integrates and coordinates print, media, and technology products for successful teaching and learning.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

James Stewart received his M.S. from Stanford University and his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. He did research at the University of London and was influenced by the famous mathematician George Polya at Stanford. Stewart is currently a Professor of Mathematics at McMaster University. His research field is harmonic analysis. James Stewart is the author of a best-selling calculus textbook series published by Brooks/Cole, including CALCULUS, Fifth Edition and CALCULUS: EARLY TRANSCENDENTALS, Fifth Edition, as well as a series of precalculus texts. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 978 pages
• Publisher: Brooks Cole; 4 edition (March 9, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0495557420
• ISBN-13: 978-0495557425
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 9 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #185,622 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

James Stewart received the M.S. degree from Stanford University and the Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. After two years as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of London, he became Professor of Mathematics at McMaster University. His research has been in harmonic analysis and functional analysis. Stewart's books include a series of high school textbooks as well as a best-selling series of calculus textbooks. He is also co-author, with Lothar Redlin and Saleem Watson, of a series of college algebra and precalculus textbooks. Translations of his books include those in Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Korean, Chinese, Greek, and Indonesian.

A talented violinst, Stewart was concertmaster of the McMaster Symphony Orchestra for many years and played professionally in the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra. Having explored connections between music and mathematics, Stewart has given more than 20 talks worldwide on Mathematics and Music and is planning to write a book that attempts to explain why mathematicians tend to be musical.

Stewart was named a Fellow of the Fields Institute in 2002 and was awarded an honorary D.Sc. in 2003 by McMaster University. The library of the Fields Institute is named after him. The James Stewart Mathematics Centre was opened in October, 2003, at McMaster University.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good as a reference only., December 12, 2005

By 

Matthew R. Williams - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Calculus: Concepts and Contexts (with CD-ROM, Make the Grade, vMentor, and InfoTrac) (Hardcover)

This book has, hands down, the worst explanations of any textbook I have ever read. During my second semester of calculus I just gave up reading the text and started relying solely on lecture. Also, half this book is fluff; such as the pointlessly short chapter on differential equations and all the chapters on applications(natural sciences, statistics etc.) Those things should be left to other books that can go into more detail. No course even has the time to cover all those topics. Important chapters, like methods for integration, are far too short(there is one stinking page for trigonometric substitution). The only redeeming factors of this book is that it has lots of color illustrations, and that it's massive enough to beat someone to death with.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Student using this book for the second semester, August 18, 2005

By 

Megan Bell "college student" (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Calculus: Concepts and Contexts (with CD-ROM, Make the Grade, vMentor, and InfoTrac) (Hardcover)

I am a student in college currently using this book for second semester calculus after using it for first semester. This book has an amazing way of making a simple problem horribly complicated! The explainations are confusing and the author assumes that you have already mastered previous material and often leaves out neccesary explainations and steps in problems. Also, other calculus books that I have worked with have much better organization of topics. This book throws out sections in chapters that do not make sense to the overall theme of the chapter. In my calculus class, it was almost pointless to learn from this unnecessarily difficult book and relied on learning only from the lecture. This is not only my opinion, but also the general consensus from all students using this book. If you are buying this book for a class I definately advise you to get the study guide for this book (it does a better job of explaining steps and simpler ways to doing problems) and other study materials!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The other reviews are right on the money, January 29, 2006

By 

cavie95 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Calculus: Concepts and Contexts (with CD-ROM, Make the Grade, vMentor, and InfoTrac) (Hardcover)

This book is flat out horrible for calc II (chapters 4.5-8). The author skips steps in examples, assumes the reader knows too much, and expects the student to solve problems beyond the chapters instruction. With the wrong instructor (and I've had a few), this book does nothing to educate the student. Shame on universities that continue to drive this one down our throats!

Portland St. student