Customer Reviews

Calculus

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

 

 

I've been teaching AP Calculus and College Prep Calculus for several years in high school, and can honestly say that this textbook is far superior to the 3 mainstream calc texts on the market today, ie, Stewart, Larson, and perhaps Anton. This book really should be THE mainstream calculus text used by most schools - and yet it isn't. Why? I have no idea! It puts the others to shame.
The exposition is outstanding. It explains concepts and computations in a very thorough, no-nonsense way, and the graphics are great. The authors write in a very direct, effective way, and have done a superlative job relative to all of the other calc texts I've seen (and I've seen just about all of them!) - with lots of very clear and detailed computations worked out for the student. From someone who's been in the calculus teaching field for a while, I can honestly say that you won't come across a better textbook for elementary calculus I, II and III than this book. I will certainly be keeping this textbook in my library. It's a gem.

This is a gargantuan book of almost 1300 pages. Yet it lives up to its hype of being a member of the "Calculus Reform Movement" that uses the "rule of five," instead of just the agreed "rule of four; that is to say it presents the substance in five (rather than the agreed four) forms: graphically, numerically, algebraically, verbally and physically.

Since, at least up through the introduction of multiple integrals and on to the more exotic topics of vector calculus, spherical coordinates, line integration, etc., most calculus books can be seen as clones of each other. The differences lie mostly on the margins. That is to say in style, presentation richness of examples, and in the auxiliary resources the book provides in addition to presentation of substance.

In all eight areas this tome of a book excels.

While with rare exceptions the substance itself is the standard fare, the richness of the examples and the stunning graphics brings the subject matter alive in ways that separates in from other textbooks and which were not available when I took this course for the first time back in 1962. For new initiates to the subject, here nothing is left ambiguous or to chance. At every turn there is literally a full menu of tutorial assistance arranged to make ones plunge into calculus clear and pain-free. For instance, there are online crib notes on all topics, given as end of chapter summaries, and thus they are not just reserved for only the difficult chapters or topics, as is normally done. I downloaded these and kept them handy as review notes. They alone are a rich resource.

The online and website resources are a special bonus. There, the internal or more detailed graphics are equally stunning as the ones are in the text. They clear up any lingering doubts about the fine points of the topics introduced in each chapter. In addition, there are the all important "trial examinations," which the reader can try either at his leisure, or at a time when he thinks he is ready, or indeed as part of a "cramming session" just before a "real" exam is scheduled.

On the online resources, one word of warning is in order. The reader must have the latest "font sets" and "plug-ins" for Adobe reader. Otherwise the integration sign will not appear in the text. Other than this, and the huge size of the book, I could find no fault with it. Even for students allergic to math, this should be smooth sailing ahead. Five Stars.

This is a great book for both self-study and in-class learning.

As an EE undergrad, this was practically my bible for 2 years. Concepts are explained very well, followed by very clear step-by-step problem-solving examples. Like many textbooks, end-of-chapter problems begin with 10 or so conceptual questions geared towards in-class discussion & understanding, followed by a wide range of problems to work. The variety of problems are very good - they range from very easy and simple to challenging and difficult, ending with "real-world" word problems. While going through my Calc classes, it was very nice to learn and work problems at a comfortable level, skipping the simple ones and avoiding the difficult ones. Now that I'm a little further along in my course work, this book serves as a great review to open up to any chapter and work the more difficult word problems.

While I didn't very much appreciate the chapter(s) on summations and series at the time, they've proven to be an excellent reference three semesters later. Same goes for their explanation of Green's Theorem and a lot of the vector-calculus found near the end. All these topics are explained in great detail, proofs included, and most importantly, in plain english.

Towards the end the text becomes less formal at times. If you're still reading by chapter 10 you probably appreciate Calculus enough to enjoy the authors' writing style and use of interesting real-world applications. You learn quite a bit you don't expect to working problems; how JPEGS compress and have "halos" for example (Fourier Series, chp 8). Their derivation of Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion using Newton's laws (chapter 11) is truly amazing, and they explain it in such a way that anyone with a good grasp of the concepts can understand it.

While much of this may be too much for non math/engineering majors, I've found this book to be invaluable in my studies. I still regularly reference it and read from the chapters not taught in class - a testament to its clarity and ease of use without an instructor.

It has a permanent place on my bookshelf; one of the few books I won't sell - and that's saying a lot coming from a broke undergrad.

Student reviewer here. This book is very attractive and well-illustrated. It has some helpful material for review and/or catching up for students in introductory Calculus classes in Chapter 0 and it spends significant time illustrating real world scenarios in which the concepts can be applied.

The problems I have with the book are the insufficient number and variety of examples provided, the arbitrary notations often used in lieu of more demonstrative ones that would be easier for beginners to understand, the poor explanation of abstract mathematical concepts and procedures, and the incomplete and at times inaccurate accompanying text, the Student Solutions Manual, which is often nothing more than an answer key for odd numbered problems that can also be found at the end of the text, begging the question: why shell out all that extra dough?

The could improve the book dramatically by getting an editor to look over the text for clarity and adding more explanation, demonstration, and homework problems, and by making the Solutions Manual more demonstrative instead of skipping steps that may not be evident to beginners.

This is a very good book for undergraduate students. I use this book for my Calculus III class, and I feel the authors do a good job here because they explain every concept carefully. I love the proof that follows with every concept.
This book can be a tool book not just for a textbook. If you are looking for a claculus textbook you might consider to use this book!

I suppose someday someone will come up with the perfect calculus textbook. It's certainly not this one. It provides basic explanations, then jumps to advanced, leaving all the but the math whiz in the dust. Example--Riemann sums--the book showed the basics, then the first problem involved a cubic equation, not even hinted at in the text.
And maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I like a book that has been fully proof read, and bound by competent binders (Kudos to McGraw-Hill for doing the right thing and offering to replace all our books.) The web page, however, is very good.

I currently have this text on my desk and i think it is the best calculus text of those that i have used. There is the right blend of examples, exercises and more complex ideas such as proofs and applications. The ease of reading has made it possible for me to work on my own and understand the later chapters that deal with multiple integration, which i found difficult to understand in the Stewart calculus text. I would reccomend this book to anyone with more than a passing interest in mathematics.