Customer Reviews

The Humongous Book of Calculus Problems: For People Who Don't Speak Math

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I'm not very good at math but with this book's help, I'm doing well in calculus. I frequently find myself saying "well, why couldn't the textbook just say that??" after reading the explainations given by Kelley. Things are very simplified but not so much that important information is left out. Another great aspect of this book is that it covers all of the important topics. Other math self-help books seem to leave out the one topic I need help with but this book aligns very well with the text I'm using (Thomas' Calculus Early Transcendentals). This book is definitely worth the $13. Highly recommended!

So what makes this book different than the other books. I've tried Dummies, Demystified, and even the same authors book, Complete Idiots Calculus. This book assumes you are a total idiot at PreCalc, that's what I needed. I was taking a Calc class after being out of school for 5 years and I don't even remember any PreCalc and all the other Calc books assume you know the basics. So they skip over all the simple steps because you are suppose to know them to do calculus. But I don't remember any math at all so I had a hard time. This book explains all the simple steps too that's why it's better than the other help books on Calculus. Good luck to you too.

This is the best calculus book I have ever seen. The author really does understand that quite a lot of people (like myself) struggle with calculus even if they have been strong math students prior to calc. His "refresher" section is very thorough, and I learned things that I never learned the first time around (synthetic division, the formula for factoring a "non-simple," let's call it, quadratic, and a couple of other things). This is in spite of the fact that I (barely survived) Calc III.

When it comes to the calculus portions themselves, somehow Kelley makes sense! I don't know how he has managed it, but he has created maybe the first understandable calculus text.

High schools that teach AP Calculus AB and/or BC, and colleges and universities, need to scrap their "mathematically heavy" textbooks and replace them with this. Ok, colleges and universities will never do this, thinking that they are training mathematicians and such, but if you struggle with even the "pencil-pushing" parts of calc (like I did), how are you going to be able to understand proofs, etc. anyway?

All high schools should use this. Students' AP scores would thank them for it. I was an A or A+ student in math my entire life until I got to calculus...and then this subject made no sense to me at all and I really could not, for the life of me, understand or solve the problems. It really is a different kind of math, no matter what anyone says. I aced algebra, trig, and pre-calc, so that wasn't the problem.

This book really deserves all the praise it receives. Go through this, then get a supplemental text such as Schaum's to work more problems.

The subtitle of this book, "Translated for People Who Don't Speak Math" is a mild bit of exaggeration, that hopefully, won't establish unreasonable reader expectations. That aside, this book provides an excellent selection of examples through a fairly comprehensive set of problem statements.

Although the book is quite large, the outer text margins are also fairly large, about 2 1/4". This allowed the author and publisher to include pencil looking marginal annotations inside cartoon like balloon clouds. These annotations are quite helpful and provide additional explanations to problems where required. The wide margins mean that as far as content this 565 page book is probably equivalent to a 400 page book with normal margins. Thus, it should be considered a bit less intimidating than its page count might imply.

The book devotes eight chapters, over 120 pages, to review material before getting to the concepts of calculus. This review covers topics in: Linear Equations and Inequalities, Polynomials, Rational Expressions, Functions, Logarithmic and Exponential Functions, Conic Sections, and Trigonometry (two chapters). Each Chapter of the reviews is divided into 'bite-sized' sections with, usually, between a half-dozen or more problems per section. Problems are clearly stated, often with accompanying illustrations, and solutions are thoroughly discussed with solution steps well presented. The review is followed by problems on limits and continuity, then differentiation, and integration. The book closes with problems on differential equations, sequences and series.

Considering the relatively large number of problems there are fewer than expected errors. Owing to the detailed presentation of solutions most of the errors are obvious, as when in problem 3.1 the author inexplicably and incorrectly changes a negative sign in the problem statement to a positive one in the solution.

The author generally provides clear and extended solutions to problems, i.e., not just answers but the solution steps leading to the answers. Sometimes the author's choice of a solution approach is, arguably, not the most appropriate.

A minor issue is the tendency to use "by route" solutions. For example, in problem 1.9 the author uses the formula sqrt [(x2-x1)^2 + (y2-y1)^2] to find the length of line segments, two of which are horizontal. Obviously, for horizontal line segments just subtracting the x - coordinates of their endpoints, (x2-x1) would work. Using a more complex formula when simple subtraction would do is clearly more error prone.

There is a major deficiency in word problems involving dimensions. For these problems the author uses 'pure numbers' during the problem solution phase, leaving off dimensions until the final solution. This means there is no check that the final dimensions make sense, or that the problem is solved correctly. The lack of 'dimensional analysis' can result in answers that are inappropriate and wrong. The use of pure dimensionless numbers may make work 'cleaner', but it may also mask wrong answers, and it always means that an additional check on the validity of a solution is missing.

As one example, in problem 15.27 we are told that a tank leaks at a constant rate of 2 gallons per day. However, in the solution process 'gallons' is dropped and only the number '2' appears. The final solution then presents an answer in feet/day. Had dimensions been included it would be clear that the answer given is in gallons/(feet^2*day) not feet/day. An answer that makes no sense. What was needed was to convert gallons to ft^3, so that the solution process would produce a final answer in feet/day. Had 'dimensions' been included in the problem solving steps, this would have been obvious.

I kept track of the time to complete all exercises in some sections. Based on those results, readers should be able to complete all problems in the book within two months, working at a comfortably relaxed pace. With a more devoted effort, a considerably shorter completion time is possible, as the material is presented in easy "chunks", and the exercises are quite reinforcing, so there is no requirement for a break to let the concepts "sink in".

In spite of some minor inconsistencies, and the unfortunate lack of dimensions in the solution steps to word problems, this is a book that can none-the-less be recommended to those looking for reinforcement, review, or more experience solving calculus problems. Those seeking a deeper understanding of calculus in specific applications will need to augment this work with additional materials where the underlying concepts are given more extended emphasis.

This book covers what you need before actually delving into the arena of calculus. This book assumes that you have at least a rusty knowledge of algebra and trigonometry. Hope this helps!

This is a great text for someone just getting into Calculus. The author does assume that one has taken high school Algebra and Geometry. Most of the concepts are introduced via the intuitive method rather than proofs but that is what makes the text very accessible. For the cost this is a bargain. Very good for the beginner and someone who wishes to get back into the subject after a long absence.

This book is good in showing many if not all types of problems for Pre cal review and calculus but its name deceives. I was hoping that it would have practice problems. All does is that it shows you how to solve a type of problem, just once. Its a good aid for those taking calc classes, but its not as good for self study. For that The Calculus Lifesaver is much better to learn calculus, and standard textbooks or workbooks are better for providing practice.

This book is 10x better than Kelley's "Idiots Guide to Calculus." Why is that? He solves more rigorous problems that you are likely to see in your Calculus homework. He completes every problem step-by-step (including the algebra tricks!) so you'll know how to apply the techniques to problems you are likely to encounter. Highly recommended!!

What a geat book, especially for self study. If you use it along with other problemn collections like the Schaum's series, you should be able to solve almost any problem in a Calc I or II level course.

I have enjoyed the book so far. It walks you through most type of calculus problems. The nice thing is that it shows you how to solve them step by step with side notes that tell you how to get from one step to the next.