Customer Reviews

Calculus, Early Transcendentals

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I have taught calculus courses with this and other books, and this one is actually pretty good.

I disagree with those reviewers that say that this is a "proof-oriented" book. Yes, many of the important theorems in calculus (the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, the Mean Value Theorem) are proven, but the topological ones like the Extreme Value Theorem and Intermediate Value Theorem are not (perhaps that's too much to ask of a first-year course for non-majors, however). There is an overuse of color in the text, and the accursed box is drawn around way too many things, logically equating theorems, definitions, principles, and terminologies specific to the book like "The Closed Interval Test".

What the book is very good at is providing lots of real-life examples and problems. In fact, these save the book. Each chapter teases some of the more interesting ones (how fast does a turkey cool after you take it out of the oven?) There are extended problems called "Applied Projects." I was particularly impressed with those from the related rates and optimization sections. Problems like these are what turned me on to math. Just a few more theoretical problems would complete the picture, however. Many students can calculate derivatives of functions, but few will come away with an idea of what functions and derivatives really are.

In summary, this is very good book for non-math majors (e.g., engineers). It needs only be supplemented in class with the foundational material. For majors, however, I recommend Spivak's _Calculus_ book.

(review of 4th ed.) I have used this gargantuan book for three semesters now. This book is proof that quality does not equal quantity (1100+ pages). The book has lots of pictures, which I suppose is why it is so big. How do color photographs of nature scenes aid one's understanding of calculus? Answer: they don't...period.

Yet for such a large book, coverage is quite sparse. The coverage starts with a slow introduction to functions, which I suppose is good for high-school students or students who lack the most basic mathematical background, but not for typical college students. Very little of the coverage has any depth, and too many proofs are 'outside the scope of this book'. By the time Stewart gets to vector calculus (covered in a single chapter), the coverage has become pure cookbook. For instance, divergence and curl are given as formulas, with no real discussion of their significance.

Also, the book is organized very strangely. For instance, parametric equations and parametric surfaces are discussed in separate chapters. Even worse, the relationships between parametric curves, scalar fields and vector fields (the three types of multivariable functions) are never discussed. Perhaps it was just hard for me to see the relationships because they were on opposite sides of an 1100-page phonebook!

Suggestion to Mr. Stewart: If you feel your book really needs to be so long winded, at least break the book into two or three volumes. Carrying my books to class shouldn't feel like boot camp!!! My friends think I'm carrying bricks in my backpack!!!

And to the students: if you have a choice in the matter, consider either Apostol's "Calculus" or Spivak's "Calculus". If you are really adventurous, try Courant or maybe even Rudin. Also, for a pretty-good intro to vector calculus, check out Schey's "Div, Grad, Curl".

Contrary to what some reviewers have written, I feel that Stewart's Calculus book is easily the best textbook I have encountered so far in college. In my opinion, the best indication of a textbook's worth is having to learn the material solely through the text, instead in addition to a lecturer; this book passed that test with flying colors.

Of course I had calculus lecturers, but every one of them was horrible. For Calc I (single variable), the professor spoke in a thick Russian accent; in Calc II (advanced integration/series, sequences), the professor was simply inadequate and didn't know how to explain anything; in Calc III (multivariable), the professor was a crazy Polish guy bent on teaching us calculus using his own weird linear algebra/advanced math methods (you'd think Berkeley might assign some better math professors...). In every case, I ended up shunning the lectures and learning everything straight from Stewart. Every chapter was teeming with great example problems, and wasn't saturated with unnecessary proofs (read the Principia or other advanced books if you're interested in that sort of thing). Perhaps the homework problems weren't always as challenging as other books, but I'd rather understand the problems than sit around staring an unsolvable puzzle for 3 hours.

Again I say, best college text I've had so far. I highly recommend it.

I have been teaching calculus at a university for over 20 years. I was on the adoption committee to select calculus texts. I had heard that the Stewart text was a national best seller, so I volunteered to review it. I was startled. I can see now reason why this text is widely used. It is even more difficult to believe that its author has had any classroom experience with honest-to-goodness calculus students. The writing is rambling and obtuse. The design is not helpful and blends prose with examples. The art is irregular, some art is small and some is huge, some topics that cry for graphs have none and some that don't need graphs have several. I have used several other texts and it appears that the author used a cut and paste technique to create this text, taking liberally from other best sellers. After a careful review of this "popular" text, I felt obligated to write this review. Someone needs to point out that the "emperor is not wearing any clothes!"

Reader reviews on the 4th edition are split (see below), but I liked this book in the calculus class I was taking at University of Massachusetts. The breadth is good (almost too much for a two-semester class), the content well presented, and, yes, many problem sets are well done (although I learned to hate related rates problems in the first semester). Students will need some additional materials, however: (1) the Student Solutions Manual (James Stewart, 4th ed.) which gives the answers to all odd-numbered problems (Brooks/Cole guards its teachers' answers and reserves the even-numbered ones for the teachers' edition). (2) The CD/ROM Journey Through Calculus (Win 98/2, Pentium II or >) was helpful in the first semester, but less so in the second. Most teachers require use of a TI-86 calculator, so you will need not only the TI manual sold with the calculator, but also (3) Single Variable Calculus 4th ed., James Stewart ("Calclabs with the TI85/86"), which was annoying because the sequence of button-pushing was not all that clear, and the correct answers to problems are not given (so you have no way to check)--but you need the book to figure out the TI-86, which is not intuitively obvious.

I sometimes wonder: what other calculus books are out there? And how much of a market share does Brooks/Cole have, with this integrated set of materials?

If you need to buy one calculus book... buy this one. It's got everything you will need for learning basic calculus. I was referring to this book constantly, both while taking basic math, and in more advanced courses in physics and engineering, when I would need to go back and re-learn how to integrate a particular type of problem. I was actually quite shocked to see that the last several reviews rated this book quite poorly... everyone who took math with me using this book loved it. Then again, we were all engineers, so we wanted to be doing this kind of stuff.

If you are the type of person who needs to see all the details to understand something, then this is a good book to get. If you think your math IQ is high (meaning you you don't need to see all the details), you might find this book a bit wordy. If you are mainly concerned with the applications of calculus, then this book is more than adequate. If you are studying to be a research mathematician, I believe Spivak's Calculus is the best book out there for you.

This is an inferior text-book. I haven't the faintest idea why seemingly every college in America chooses this book. Stewart's tome is replete with "eye-candy" and is inconsistant. He explains some things rigorously and others intuitavely. If your univerisity uses this text, I hope you have a good professor.

I am amazed that this book has any positive reviews. They must be planted here by the author or by theory-oriented professors. I used this book as a student and I think it is dreadful. All of my classmates agree with me. The book talks to teachers, but not to students.

The explanations are pretty clear, but I find some of the examples too easy. I think harder examples would be more helpful to students, especially in the multivariable chapters. The 4th edition has some errors (ex switching sinh x and cosh x definitions). Also it is much heavier than the 3rd edition, be careful when picking it up. Ultimately you cannot rely totally on this book to ace a class (well it depends on the prof) as many profs vary on teaching styles and exams. Some profs center on proofs while the text only emphasizes calculations for some sections (ex single integrals and some parts of multivariable)