How to Ace Calculus: The Streetwise Guide [Paperback]

Colin Adams (Author), Abigail Thompson (Author), Joel Hass (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0716731606 | ISBN-13: 978-0716731603 | Publication Date: July 15, 1998

Written by three gifted—and funny—teachers, How to Ace Calculus provides humorous and readable explanations of the key topics of calculus without the technical details and fine print that would be found in a more formal text. Capturing the tone of students exchanging ideas among themselves, this unique guide also explains how calculus is taught, how to get the best teachers, what to study, and what is likely to be on exams—all the tricks of the trade that will make learning the material of first-semester calculus a piece of cake. Funny, irreverent, and flexible, How to Ace Calculus shows why learning calculus can be not only a mind-expanding experience but also fantastic fun.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Imagine calculus is a solid old house built on good foundations. When the time comes to sell it to a new owner, a lick of brightly colored, cheery paint can do wonders. This is what Adams, Hass, and Thompson have done in How to Ace Calculus."—Keith Devlin, Dean, School of Science, St. Mary's College (CA), Senior Researcher, Stanford University, and author of The Language of Mathematics

"This is a marvelous, user-friendly introduction to the basic ideas of calculus. It is effective, humorous and eminently practical. The book that 100,000 calculus students have been searching for is finally here."—Ron Graham, Chief Scientist, AT&T Labs, former President of the American Mathematical Society, and author of Concrete Mathematics: A Foundation of Computer Science

"Can a calculus book be lighthearted and engaging? Surprisingly, yes, and here is one that does the job."—Thomas Banchoff, Professor of Mathematics, Brown University, President-Elect of the Mathematics Association of America, and author of Beyond the Third Dimension

"This book is dangerously clear, direct, and funny. It should be suppressed before it jeopardizes the time-tested function of the calculus sequence to befuddle and filter surplus students."—William Thurston, Professor of Mathematics, University of California at Davis, Fields Medalist, and former Director of the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute

"Comic opera meets college math in this amusing and edifying roller coaster of an introduction to calculus."—Ivars Peterson, author of The Mathematical Tourist

About the Author

Colin Adams is Professor of Mathematics at Williams College. He is the author of The Knot Book and winner of the Mathematical Association of America Distinguished Teaching Award for 1998. Joel Hass is Professor of Mathematics at the University of California at Davis, and Abigail Thompson is also Professor of Mathematics at the University of California at Davis. Both have held fellowships from the Sloan Foundation and the National Science Foundation.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Times Books (July 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0716731606
• ISBN-13: 978-0716731603
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (87 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,235 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

213 of 220 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A threat to Calculus as it is currently taught, July 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: How to Ace Calculus: The Streetwise Guide (Paperback)

I am a math professor at a large state university. Like math departments everywhere, we depend on calculus students for our very existence. Students who fail Calculus, or repeat customers as we like to call them, are of course the most highly appreciated of all.

An otherwise good student, given the right combination of obscure lectures and unreadable texts, may pay for the same Calculus course 2, 3 or even 4 times. The Streetwise Guide is too thin and too cheap. Moreover, the writing style gives ordinary students what they need to master Calculus the first time they take it. In other words, this book is a threat to mathematics departments everywhere.

102 of 107 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How is this possible?, November 14, 2001

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Yu-jin Chia "Yu-Jin Chia" (Cupertino, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: How to Ace Calculus: The Streetwise Guide (Paperback)

Unless you're a mathematician, it is probably a rare thing when you find a math book that you would enjoy reading in your free time. It is utterly inconceivable that you would find a CALCULUS book that you wouldn't mind for some light night reading.

Believe it or not, inconceivable does not imply impossible, and here is the proof in hard copy. I HATE calculus and I found this book both easy to understand and actually amusing! It was an excellent refresher for my 2nd (and surprisingly successful) attempt to pass calculus II. I really wish I'd had this thing earlier, when I was slaving away through first-quarter calculus. For anyone who is taking calculus or wants to review, I give this book my highest recommendation. Now, if only these folks would write a full-length textbook!

65 of 68 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Scared of math? This book is for you, November 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: How to Ace Calculus: The Streetwise Guide (Paperback)

My dad bought me this book the summer before my senior year in high school (this year) - I looked at it and thought, "yeah, right." I'm a humanities person, I got a C in my last term of Pre-calculus, and I didn't think some book was going to help. However, once my AP Calc class started, I thought "hey, might as well give it a try." That was the best idea I've had in a long time. Mr. Adams and friends explain the concepts so clearly that I have to wonder what the authors of standard calculus texts were thinking when they wrote their books. Not only do I have an A- in the class, I have a much better understanding of what we're actually learning than the students who used to do better than me by just following all the formulas. In short, I am acing calculus, and (this is very hard for me to admit) enjoying it as well. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who panics at the thought of calculus.