Customer Reviews

Calculus the Easy Way (Barron's E-Z)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Forget the bad reviews, those people totally missed the point of this book. It is not meant to be a last minute study guide or answer every question about the hardest Calculus concepts. This is a book meant for those who just don't get it no matter how many times they read the stupid textbook, struggle through homework problems that barely resemble the textbook examples, and have a teacher who can't seem to explain things worth a damn.

This book does work. Yes, it is simplified, but it does a good job of giving you a foundation on which to build upon which you will need before you can tackle the truly hard stuff.

It is even better for those who are more interested in stories than textbooks examples that don't give you any sort of real use to the concepts. By building up in tiny steps the concepts suddenly become less daunting and a sense of fun goes a long way towards learning and understanding the subject.

My early formal education was in biology and later I attended graduate school for biochemistry. Along the way, I took classical physics, quantum physics and many other classes that required calculus. I was also a teaching fellow at a university and taught high school math, so I feel I can recognize a good text when I see one.

This particular book is unique in that it presents calculus within the context of a story and uses problems that come up in the storyline as teaching devices for important concepts. This makes the book very engaging and shows how calculus can be applied to different types of problems.

I also liked the balance betweeen theory and problem solving. In the past, I have found that some books focus on the theory and tell me more than I wanted to know. Others just threw problems at me without adequately explaining important theoretical concepts. I feel this book balances the two very nicely.

While it is true that this book does not contain a lot of advanced topics or develop theories as much as others, it does teach you the "must know" concepts quickly and gets you to understand how to apply what you learn. I'm glad I knew about it in graduate school, especially when I was studying physical chemistry. If I didn't, I'm sure it would have been a much more painful process.

Lastly, higher mathematics DOES NOT come very naturally to me. This was a helpful tool for someone like me and is likely to be for you if you are at all intimidated by difficult mathematical concepts.

...I had taken two years of calculus about 15 years before I decided I wanted to know again what I had once known. My old calculus text book looked threatening so I went to a local bookstore to see what was available. To my surprise, I found "Calculus The Easy Way" by Downing. It was in story book form, with cartoons, and humor. Unlike many texts, before it explains a mathematical concept, it relates a practical need for it. "Calculus The Easy Way" hits the concepts lightly, while managing to be the most user friendly book on calculus that I have ever seen. However, I did not care for the section on volumes of revolution, or what little was included on related rates. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Outline Series "Calculus" does a much better job in these areas. But I was able to go to the latter due to having read the former. After perusing these two inexpensive paperbacks, hardcover calculus texts no longer appeared ferocious.
In "Calculus The Easy Way," you won't get much depth. I doubt that depth is one of the intended functions of the book. It may better be described as a tool by which to access the subject with the least amount of pain, and the greatest amount of pleasure. It helps you make a beachhead. If you want more, there are other books that will take you inland. As an additional resource, which is packed with examples, including detailed solutions, you might want REA's "Calculus Problem Solvers." Try not to be the captive of any one book because another book may explain a particular concept in a way that speaks more clearly to you. A used bookstore is an affordable source of many different treatments.
I once wrote to Professor Downing pleading that he write a second, more advanced calculus book, and use his considerable talent to render other esoteric subjects understandable. I don't recall having received a reply. But if you are seeing calculus for the first time, or if you want to review, you could hardly make a better, more enjoyable choice.

This book isn't really for people who hate math. Nor is it for people who are already advanced and have a 'math brain' -- such people probably will find it rather patronizing, as they have no need for this book. It's for people who are definitely interested in math and would like to learn it, but need to learn it in an interesting and interactive way. While you read, you feel like you're figuring things out with the characters in the book. You aren't just told what the answers are -- you are developing the answers and understanding what they mean much more than you would from some old textbook.

If you want to learn what really matters, enjoy learning it, and remember what you learn buy this book. I am a doctoral engineering student. I first learned calculus from this book many years ago (I used it to teach myself before I entered college). The strong and intuitive grasp of the subject gained from this book has enabled me to succeed at all levels of math. Sure, later you will want more advanced books -- but those are common. This book is unique and exceptional.

By the way, the other books by this author are also excellent.

The best book for actually learning calc. This book will not give you the practice you need to succeed at the mechanics of calc, but it will help you understand it. The unique style of story telling makes the topic easy to grasp. I would suggesst getting this with a book that has many practice problems like Schaum's Outlines. Also, Harcoutt-Brace does an outstanding job with their College Outline Series.

I admit that I wasn't really sure about the whole Fantasy Novel approach but as I continued reading the book I not only got familiar with the characters in the story, but I also got a lot of history behind the development of Calculus based on real human curiosity and need. Even with the storyline removed, the information is there in an easy to understand format. I have learned things from this book that my college Calc texts didn't even cover. This book does not cover each subject it gruelling detail but it hits the major highlights and has useful exercises. I would recommend it for those who are learning for the first time or for those who have taken 1-2 semesters and want to brush up. Great little book ...

I had a teacher in high school AP calculus who came into class, wrote the assignments on the board, and sat down and punched holes in paper while we had to read the textbook ourselves and figure out Calculus. Needless to say, it wasn't the best way to learn, except that it forced us to try to learn it ourselves. At some point I felt really lost, so I went to the bookstore and bought this book, and worked through it on my own, more out of interest in the fairy tale than the formulas. Toward the end of the school year, we had an academic competition, and with pretty much the knowledge from this book, I qualified with a superior rating on my exam for the state level competition. I highly recommend it to anyone who is struggling with calculus and needs something more concrete to make sense of all the weird symbols and abstract formulas.

This is an absolutely wonderful resource for first-time students of calculus, particularly those who may feel intimidated by college-level math. This clear and easy-to-read book may not be helpful as a review guide for those who are already knowledgeable, but this is not its intention.

Don't wait until you're snowed under with work and incomprehension (as I did) - get this and begin using it the first week of class. I found it invaluable as a returning adult student who is not math-phobic (rec'd a 620 on the math SAT as a teenager) and yet still had difficulties with calculus before purchasing this book.

I read this book thirteen years ago, over the course of three or four days when I really had nothing better to do. I was highly impressed with it. It covers basic Newtonian Calculus quite thoroughly in the form of a fantasy story, which causes the reader to learn without quite realizing it. It is not a substitute for coursework, since things are, sadly, left out to make it more palettable for most readers. If I didn't no better, I would say Piers Anthony and Heinlein collaborated on this one. I have been recommending this book for precocious youngsters.