Customer Reviews

Calculus

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I used to consider Stewart's Calculus as an ideal beginner text but this book by Gilbert Strang tops it significantly. This is a great book if you have been away from calculus for a number of years and now want a fairly in-depth treatment beyond the "Calculus for Dummies" genere. Things are presented very well and the tone is almost conversational. For the self-learner who has the time and inclination this text is ideal. There are a goodly number of diagrams and examples.

To top it all off this book is available for free at the MIT Open Course website: [...]
In addition to the textbook the website has the Instructor's Manual and the Study Guide.

Excellent resource specially considering how expensive even mediocre calculus textbooks are today. I purchased a used copy since I find reading textbooks on the web gets old real quick. A must have.

I first saw this book as a MIT textbook. Read it briefly and absolutely loved it. I learnt Calculus many years ago and hope I had this book then. The book is so clear written and easy to understand. I am buying this book for my son now. I am sure it will be a great help for anyone reads this.

If you intend to teach yourself calculus, or if you are looking for a text for review, this one would be an excellent choice. The topics are well explained and well motivated by applications. The book covers a wide array of topics and each of them is clearly developed. I would choose this as the text for a class if I were to teach it. I certainly recommend it for those learning outside the structure of a classroom.

This is a great self-teaching text. I'm currently in high school and I wanted to get a little ahead of the game so I searched for online calculus texts and found this one. The website ( MIT Text Publications) has all the chapters in pdf format complete with the answers to the odd numbered questions. Uses interesting examples such as the application of calculus to physics and economics.

This book has excellent explanations, and is well organized. Usefull as a reference, and to teach yourself calculus. I used it all through college as a supplement (and sometimes replacement) for the assigned text.

I have read a great many calculus books at all levels. In my opinion, this is the best single
book currently in print for a first course in calculus - especially for those who will go into applied mathematics, engineering or physics.
Strang is one of the best, if not the best, teachers of mathematics in the United States.
The treatment given in this book is physical and brings the subject to life. Strang uses the odometer and speedometer
to give an initial motivation for the differential and integral branches of the subject. This is a simply brilliant approach.
Although many ivory tower math
types might disagree, mathematics is not just a set of formal rules like a game of chess. The true importance of
mathematics is to provide a language
to describe the physical world around us. Any introductory calculus text that ignores this fact is doing
the student a terrible disservice. This is why, although I have much respect for these texts, I would never recommend the treatments by Apostol or
Spivak for a first course in Calculus.

In summary, I give this book my highest recommendation.

I learned linear algebra on my own from Strang's Linear Algebra and its Applications. That was when I discovered that a human being can, indeed, fall in love with a textbook. I wish I'd learned calculus from Strang's calculus textbook (which I use constantly as a reference work). Everything I loved about his Linear Algebra text I adore about this one as well:

* Clear explanations: Occasionally you'll read a review of a textbook that says reading the book is more like having a friend explain the material to you than like the usual, dry textbook experience. This is one of those reviews. Strang makes you think, but he never leaves you without the context you need to connect the ideas that he presents.

* Strang works examples that illuminate every main point you need to learn (making this an excellent text for self-studiers).

* A broad collection of problems ranging from did-you-get-the-concept to simple plug and chug to a few real puzzlers, with answers provided for the even numbered problems. A chapter typically has more than 200 problems.

* Clever introduction of ideas you'll need later. A truly great educator knows how to introduce concepts simply in one context that you'll need to grasp more fully later. I'll give you a few examples--Strang introduces the concept of change of variables in his discussion of how to make readable graphs of functions, without hinting that change of variables is one of the primary tools of integral calculus. When you get to integration, you already understand how this works (and you still know how to make your graphs pretty). Strang also introduces in embryonic form a few concepts that will become much more important if you go on to do computational math. I guess he has to leave something for the next book.

* Lots of applications. My interest is in applied math, particularly in physics and finance, which may color my love of Strang's textbooks. In Calculus, he illustrates the use of calculus in a wide variety of applications drawn from physics, economics, and the life sciences.

Is there a downside here at all? Not really, but I do have one caveat. You'll see the major theorems proved in Strang as you would in most freshman calculus texts, but Strang focuses on developing calculus as a tool, so you won't see page after page of definition-theorem-proof-example. This is a plus for most of us, but if you plan to be a math major, I'd recommend a more rigorous text such as Spivak's or Apostol's. On the other hand, if you stick with Strang now and later move into pure math, don't worry, you'll see calculus laid out in it's fully rigorous glory when you study analysis.

Outside classes for future math majors, it should be a criminal act to teach calculus in English from any other textbook.

Whether one is studying calculus for science, engineering or social sciences, this is probably one of the best books on the subject. It can be downloaded for free off of the MIT Open Courses website, along with the students' and teachers' manuals. I am using it for review, and bought my own copy.

I would really encourage people to check this text out online. I am amazed at the facility with which professor Strang introduces derivatives and integrals. I have never before seen the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus explained in terms of simple sums and differences. Derivatives and Integrals are introduced in terms of simple sums and differences. I still can't get over this. Strang starts out with an odometer and speedometer and uses them to explain what calculus is. The conversational tone is outstanding and all of the materials are available via MIT. I only wish that I had learned calculus from this text the first time around. It is evident that Strang understands calculus to the core, and that few other calculus teachers do. A superb listing of available online texts is on the following website: [...].

I am stunned at the level of personality in this text. This book brings back to life my passion for mathematics, a passion I've had since I was a small child learning to add and subtract numbers.

The questions at the end of each section are wonderful, and provide a concise summary of what was just taught. I find myself working on some of them on my off time or when I'm trying to work through another problem completely (nothing like a bit of integration to "integrate" that C++ code into a program).


All-in-all, this book will not remain on my shelf. It will probably be in constant use for quite awhile, especially since my little sister has just recently started calculus.