Automotive Holiday Deals Tradein Shop Women's Dresses Learn more nav_sap_SWP_6M_fly_beacon Sharon Jones egg_2015 All-New Amazon Fire TV Grocery Gifts Under $100 Street Art Project Amazon Gift Card Offer aos aos aos Amazon Echo Starting at $49.99 Kindle Voyage AntMan Shop Now Deals

Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

  • Apple
  • Android
  • Windows Phone
  • Android

To get the free app, enter your email address or mobile phone number.
Download to your computer
Kindle Cloud Reader

The Calculus of Friendship: What a Teacher and a Student Learned about Life while Corresponding about Math First Edition Edition

by Steven Strogatz (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars 24 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0691134932
ISBN-10: 0691134936
Why is ISBN important?
ISBN
This bar-code number lets you verify that you're getting exactly the right version or edition of a book. The 13-digit and 10-digit formats both work.
Scan an ISBN with your phone
Use the Amazon App to scan ISBNs and compare prices.
Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon

Sorry, there was a problem.

There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Please try again.

Sorry, there was a problem.

List unavailable.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest
More Buying Choices
19 New from $8.37 25 Used from $5.17
44 used & new from $5.17
See All Buying Options
Free Two-Day Shipping for College Students with Amazon Student Free%20Two-Day%20Shipping%20for%20College%20Students%20with%20Amazon%20Student

Dear Mr. You by Mary -Louise Parker
"Dear Mr. You" by Mary-Louise Parker
Explore this featured new release in Actors & Entertainers. Learn more | See related books
NO_CONTENT_IN_FEATURE
Hero Quick Promo
Up to 85% Off Over 1,000 Kindle Books
Visit our Holiday Deals store and save up to 85% on more than 1,000 Kindle books. These deals are valid until December 31, 2015. Learn more

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 184 pages
  • Publisher: Princeton University Press; First Edition edition (August 23, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0691134936
  • ISBN-13: 978-0691134932
  • Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6 x 0.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #986,677 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful
Beautiful book.
By Michael R. Steele on September 2, 2009
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
This is an absolutely beautiful book about the relationship through letters of a high school math teacher and one of his students who becomes a world class mathematician. It's about their lives and the mathematics that bound them together. I have read quite a few memoirs and don't recall any that choked me up like this one did, I want to thank Dr. Strogatz for being so open. Also, the math in the book is very interesting and well explained, if I could give if more than five stars I would.
Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
A very interesting book
By Foolish Reader on November 11, 2009
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
This is a very interesting book about the relationship between a high school student and teacher that extends long after the student has graduated. Because both student and teacher are math teachers, the correspondence between them frequently revolves aroung math problems that interest them, but it includes much more than that. Not being mathematically inclined whatsoever, I skipped over all the math, and found it a touching story. For those interested in the math too, it will be a double treat.
Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Goind home
By Virginia Norris Exton on February 5, 2010
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Full disclosure: Don Joffray, about whom this book was written, was a great friend of my parents so I knew him as much more than a teacher. The great thing about this book is that the author, Steve Strogatz, paints an accurate, empathetic picture of Joff the man & Joff the teacher, and also weaves a compelling story about the enduring friendship between two math geeks (I say this with admiration). I am not a math major so some of the calculations went beyond my meager understanding, but that didn't matter. Even the math conversations replicated in the book were glimpses into the continuum of a student/teacher realtionship. Very cool!- V. Norris
Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Calculus in Life
By Wu Bing on November 11, 2009
Format: Hardcover
Written by a Math Prof @ Cornell University, it is on Calculus, not in the dry formal math textbook way, but via a life story and many correspondences with his retired high-school math teacher, who helped the author overcome his fear of "epsilon-delta" in Calculus lesson at high-school.

Also in this book the author gave the working example of Feynman's "Differentiate under Integral" trick, not shown in the original book "Are you Joking, Mr. Feynman" where Feynman mentioned he self-paced the "secret weapon" from the "Advanced Calculus" (Woods).

I recommended this book to our local National Library to procure 10 copies for general public's reading. It is a shame if they don't, this book is an excellent reading for curious nonmathematicians.
1 Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
29 of 38 people found the following review helpful
An Uninspiring Book
By Coach K on July 12, 2010
Format: Hardcover
I am clearly in the minority, but this book did not inspire me at all. Simply put, it seems as though the author was writing a story that was not compelling in the least, not as a book of friendship, nor as a book of mathematics. It was a story that seemed forced -- that is, it was made out to be more that it really was.

To review, Strogatz had Joff as a teacher in high school, and was uninspired by him. Nevertheless, they corresponded a few letters over the next few years of mathematical content, discovering or rediscovering various mathematical proofs (these proofs form the bulk of the book). Then, for many decades, Strogatz all but ignored his teacher's letters, while he got married and set out on his own path as a mathematician. Later, with some remorse, he began to write back again, and then visited Joff in what seemed a rather uneventful visit. Strogatz concluded after that visit that after all these years, he finally realized what he has to thank Joff for --- that "he let me teach him".
This is a friendship?

I didn't find their friendship to be a meaningful one at all. The tone throughout the book by Strogatz was one of condescension toward his teacher - that he was not the mathematician that Strogatz had become. The author's ego made it a somewhat uncomfortable read -- we get it -- you are very smart.

Perhaps this level of friendship is one that some mathematicians would consider meaningful. I didn't find it inspiring in the least.
Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
I really enjoyed it
By L. McJilton on October 2, 2009
Format: Hardcover
Very touching book. I admit I did not understand all the math ... I enjoyed seeing it, though.:) Bittersweet in a "benjamin button" sort of way.
Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Calculus Autobiography
By Carlos on March 15, 2010
Format: Hardcover
A touching collection of letters between a high school math teacher and a former student which explores the role of mentoring over many decades. Although the letters contain lots of calculus, it is a truly moving story of a friendship between student and teacher that moves ever so slowly from a purely professional exchange of information into more personal territory.
Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
excellent book
By K. Svedberg on February 26, 2010
Format: Hardcover
Having read Strogatz's "Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos" Nonlinear Dynamics And Chaos: With Applications To Physics, Biology, Chemistry, And Engineering (Studies in nonlinearity)
I can only say that this book shines in the same spirit of a man who is able to bring conceptual understanding of math to a level that the read is able to glimpse and understand the workings of the minds who derived and invented the theorems to begin with.
Many reviewers here have already mentioned the heartfelt rendition of the author's friendship and how it developes over decades, however no less does the complexity and intricacy of the math evolve over the chapters.
What stays the same is the easy with which Strogatz explains the concepts in his letters, even on complex (no pun intended) subject matter.
As such, paraphrasing from the blurb, two things stay constant in the turmoil that is life, friendships, the other, the shared joy of curiosity.
Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse

Most Recent Customer Reviews

Please read, so worth it

This is one of the most beautiful books I've read in a long time. It's the story of a teacher and student and the influence they had on each other. Read more

Published 6 months ago by Bri Bird
Five Stars

Fast delivery. Just as advertised.

Published 14 months ago by Dennis W. Ahern
Math class selection

I am purchasing a classroom set and my math seniors will be reading this in class before they graduate and go out into the world.

Published on September 9, 2013 by Hugh Johnston
Too much math for me

I was not expecting the quantity of math, calculus in particular, in this book. It was mostly math, and relatively little about the human relationship I was expecting.

Published on April 29, 2013 by D. U. Cahn
Math buddies

I heard a podcast from the author and wanted to know more about his background. It nice to know that even geniuses struggle at times. Read more

Published on March 22, 2013 by L. Sokoloski
Special Friendship; Math beyond recognition

It was a fascinating relationship between a (brilliant) teacher and a (brilliant) student. I also got a kick out breezing
through the most complicated calculus problems since... Read more

Published on January 19, 2013 by paparon3
A must read

if you have any appreciation or curiosity for math, you have to read this. Very easy to follow. Not too big, so you could finish it pretty fast.

Published on January 18, 2013 by abe ibanez
Wonderful book

This was a nice read about a student who became a friend and teacher to his former teacher. The math was a little steep for me in many cases, but that was incidental to the story. Read more

Published on November 2, 2012 by JerZGirl
Shared intimacy with the essence of math...

... and those are the types of experience that are not easy to translate from human mind to symbols, also a pathetic bounds between humans are the extreme limits of our... Read more

Published on April 18, 2012 by UmsthAAk
The elegance of math, teaching, and friendship

I'm familiar with Steven Strogatz from being an avid Radiolab listener, so I anxiously awaited The Calculus of Friendship. Read more

Published on March 5, 2012 by BHB

There's a problem loading this menu right now.

Learn more about Amazon Prime.



Want to discover more products? Check out this page to see more: science history