Customer Reviews

Multivariable Mathematics (4th Edition)

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

 

 

This book was used for a two-course introductory math series at Stanford in 1996-7 and 1997-8. The book drew so many complaints that it was abandoned after two years. Personally, I found it difficult to understand many of the formal proofs and explanations provided. Many shortcuts were taken in solving the example problems which made them difficult to follow. The answers to problems in the back of the book were frequently incorrect. This is a poorly written book for all students except those extremely insightful in mathematics.

I liked this book because it is written at a slightly more sophisticated level than most lower division math books. Admittedly, it is difficult to understand some of the proofs and examples on the first read. It just takes some time, after a second or third read, before the text begins to make sense. Then you'll realize the examples are presented quite well and you have everything you need to solve the problem sets. And you know you've learned the material well if you understand the text and you can do the problems, which are oriented more to make you think than compute.

I've seen the editions of 1968 and 1972, and it looks to me as if the book has gotten worse with time.
The 1968 version, which one reviewer claimed Spivak praised, was more of a Mathematics book than the one from 1972. This one looks more mainstream; it looks like many other books, while the latter was more advanced, and had _more_ illustrations (to be honest, I haven't counted...) Less epsilon-deltas. On the other hand, numerics crept in the 1972 edition.
How is this possible? Sales pressure, I guess...Calculus book have gone down that road too.
Let's hope someone clarifies whether this last edition is really worth getting.

For those with sufficient preparation (say, a good BC Calculus course and an enjoyment of mathematics), this text offers a very fine presentation of multivariable calculus. Certainly, some of the material is challenging and some of the exercises require insight, but after finishing this book, or substantial portions of it, you will have a coherent view of multivariable calculus, as well as some appreciation of significant, but elementary, applications of linear algebra. I particularly recommend this text to those who have learned multivariable calculus in one of the "fat" three semester calculus texts, and feel that, although they could solve all the problems, they don't really have any sense of what the subject is all about. This text has a distinguished history: it is the latest incarnation of a vector calculus text (Calculus of Vector Functions) first published in 1962 by Crowell and Williamson. Spivak described that text (and I hope Dover someday reissues the third edition) as "one of the first, and still one of the nicest, treatments of advanced calculus using linear algebra."

This book was a waste of my money. I purchased this book for my Mathematics 32A Honors course and found myself completely lost. Having just come out of Math 31A and 31B (Single Variable Calculus) with A's, I figured that taking on an Honors course would provide me with an interesting challenge. This book, however, provides a challenge to not only the student but the professor as well. In the examples, many shortcuts are taken leaving the reader lost even after countless rereads. Homework is all conceptual problems, each one requiring a multi-page proof. If your class requires this book, DO NOT purchase it, and SWITCH into another class. I am a chemistry student, math minor and this book left me in tears.

Book is of lower print quality and not very well proof-read. Numerous small errors through out in notation, variables, etc. Overall, helpful, but below the quality and accuracy I would expect particularly considering how long the textbook has been in publication.

This book is TERRIBLE. This is mainly due to fact that its authors have written the text in an extremely confusing fashion. The book doesn't have any conventional examples (there are portions labeled "example 1 (or 2, 3, etc)" but they are not really examples in the conventional sense since they don't even propose a question). Many simplification steps (elucidating exactly what the authors are doing) in a particular explanation are simply left out. The figures don't have any labels on them signifying as to what they refer to (a graph will simply say "FIGURE 4.13" not having any notification as to its equation, etc.; though the text does say "refer to figure 4.13" it would have been nice to label the figures more clearly). Worst of all, the text is just flat out confusing in relation to the way the authors have worded the material. Were they just lost in their own little world when writing this text? Have they even taught this subject to undergrads (it feels more like their crowd was that of a group of people who already know the subject by heart). I was pretty much lost throughout the chapter on vectors (my calc-based physics book did a much better job on elucidating the subject). Overall, do yourself a favor and STAY AWAY FROM THIS BOOK. Don't even bother taking a class from a professor that uses this as the required text (unless he's reallllllly good at clearly explaining the material).

the book got to me almost on time and was in very good condition.