Customer Reviews

Calculus by and for Young People (Ages 7, Yes 7 and Up)

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This is an outstanding book because it takes the mumbo-jumbo out of traditionally taught calculus and makes the ideas accessible to ANYONE, not just to math whizzes. The technical vocabulary and symbolic notation can always be learned later. This book introduces the important ideas of calculus with simple, natural language and, most helpful of all, illuminating graphics, so the beauty (yes, beauty) and fun of calculus comes through. I would recommend this book to anyone who is teaching children, and also to math phobics. (I am the former, and was the latter for many years.) This book is FUN, and it makes calculus FUN!

Before you buy this book be aware that it measures [approximately] less than 3x5". However, Donald Cohen has some great ideas. It is true that you can easily introduce younger students to the type of thinking that will be necessary in precalculus and up. I think it is worth it to get the workbook, which covers most of the material presented in this book. But don't buy both.

This collection of calculus problems is not well organized in the sense that the order of presentation starts with the fundamentals that support work in calculus. The problems deal with infinite series, the Koch Snowflake curve, Fibonacci numbers and the golden mean, continued fractions, compound interest, area under curves and derivatives. By themselves, the problems covered are not unique or even that hard.
What distinguishes this book is that the author presents solution methods generated by children as young as 7. The solutions are not "lucky guesses"; they are the consequence of significant mathematical insight. Cohen is the co-founder of "The Math Program" an initiative where teachers are available to give private math lessons to young children. This book can be considered a report describing their success.
Mathematics is an area where insight is often superior to grinding work. In this book Cohen describes many instances where a young child had a leap of insight that led to the successful solution to a problem. It should be a reminder to math teachers that not all students think the same way and sometimes a nonstandard solution demonstrates significant mathematical ability.

Yes, this book is very tiny, nearly requires a magnifying glass to read and I do agree with the previous reviewer that it isn't worth the price for the size of the book. BUT, my math-inclined son can easily hold it in his hands, so maybe there is a method to the madness. My husband, an engineer with a master's degree in mathematics, has been a bit skeptical about our son learning calculus at the age of 9, but I think this book will do what I expect, and that is to introduce basic concepts in calculus that I never got until my first year of college. I hope it works!

I bought this book and all the associated materials about three years ago after talking with the author.

When I got the books I was positively shocked at how small they are. It is very, very difficult to see the print.

I have 42 graduate credits but never went beyond algebra and statistics, no calculus. I found the book useless. After trying to figure out how to make use of the book I finally called the author, whom I had purchased the material from, not Amazon.com, and asked for permission to return the material, all in perfect condition and in the original box it was shiped in. The author refused to let me return the product.

In his defense I have to admit I had the material for a number of months, if not a year, trying to figure out how to make use of the material. However, since it was in mint condition and I had the sales slip I kind of think it would have been nice for him to return my money. As far as I could tell from my conversation the author is a very nice person and has had success teaching this material to young children. Unfortunately I think his success is due to his excellent personality and knowledge and love of the subject, not the book.

I knew trying to teach calculus to a 7 year old would be a bit of a challenge but wanted to give it the "good old college try". I would have been better to give it up right away and return the material immediately.

[...] I simply was unable to see how to approach a 7 year old with a book they can hardly read because of the size of the print and expect the child to understand the text when I can't (it is too small for me to easily read). Someone with better eyesight might do better.

If a good instructor's manual, for parents, came with the text and the text was twice as large it might have made a difference. My recommendation is to not buy this book and look for something else. I am glad Amazon.com does not carry the book in stock.

If anyone thinks I am wrong I still have everything in the original box and would be glad to sell it at a discount, no returns please:)