Calculus, Combined

by Howard Anton

Book Overview

The new Sixth Edition of Anton's Calculus is a contemporary text that incorporates the best features of calculus reform, yet preserves the main structure of an established, traditional calculus text. This book is intended for those who want to move slowly into the reform movement. The new edition retains its accessible writing style and a high standard of mathematical precision.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471153060
• ISBN13: 9780471153061
• Release Date: August 1998
• Publisher: Wiley
• Length: 1312 Pages
• Weight: 6.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 2.4" x 9.4" x 11.2"

Customer Reviews

Excellent Calculus Book for "Normal" People

To add a bit more information to the raw data of these reviews, I've mapped the universe of all possible readers of this book onto a set of x-y axes. Let the x-axis run from "non-Math-types" up through "Math-types." Let they y-axis go from "non-geniuses" up through "geniuses:" - Quadrant I: genius Math-types will probably be both irritated and bored with this book. Their irritation will spring from the fact that not all of the pure-math proofs they'll be looking for are here. The book focuses more on explaining and doing calculus than on proving it. Most of the material is proven (properly: no missing steps), but the proofs that would get in the way of doing calculus are omitted. Quadrant Is will be bored because the author does his best to pound on a topic until practically everyone can understand it. Genius math-types, since they're inherently capable of grasping this material from proofs alone, will not be pleased by this repetition. For Quadrant Is, some version of Tom M. Apostol's Calculus books (ISBNs 9686708103, 842915003X, 8429150013, 0471000051, 0471503037, 0471000078, or 0471000086) would be a better text. - Quadrant II: genius non-Math-types will probably prefer the fact that the author skipped some proofs in favor of applications. However, like the Quadrant Is, they'll probably be somewhat bored by the author's "slowness" in moving on after he introduces a topic. This book will be OK for them, but they'd probably prefer a more "terse" presentation. Unfortunately, I don't have any recommendations for such a book. - Quadrant III: non-genius non-Math-types (i.e., "normal" people), will find this book just right. As noted above, the author's focus is on teaching and using calculus, not *necessarily* on proving it. If the proofs are complex enough that they'd distract from that mission, they're either relegated to Appendix G or omitted (though most proofs are present). Best of all, the author doesn't skip steps in his proofs: all the steps are there in their detailed glory. Later in the book, he will occasionally skip a simplification of an expression, but none of the "proof" material is missing. In the latter half of the book, he sometimes does the "proof is left as an exercise for the student" routine, but those are for non-essential proofs. After the author introduces a topic/theorem/method, he always gives multiple (at least three) examples. So, if the readers are having trouble with the equations and proofs, they'll have several chances to figure out what he means from the examples. Also, all the odd problems have answers in the back of the book. There are no steps included with the answers, but usually that's not a problem (since there are so many examples in the book). I also found the appendices giving explanations of pre-Calculus math facts very useful: it's been a long time since I've seen those things, so I needed the refresher. - Quadrant IV: non-genius Math-types will join the Quadrant Is in dislikin

This book is truly the best Intro Calculus text available.

I have taught Calculus at the University level for well over 20 years now. When I first arrived, the school had already adopted the 1st edition of Anton's Calculus, and the school (and myself) have liked it so much that we have stuck with Anton for 20 years, until 2000. For some reason, the Math Department has decided to change to Stewart's book. Let me tell you, Anton's book is most certainly the best. The examples actually explain the concept, the concepts are explained coherently in words before the mathematics is presented, graphs are abundant where necessary, and the book eases students into Calculus. I have found that deficiencies in trigonometry plague students through the calculus sequence. Mr. Anton provides a thorough review in Appendix 1, which clears up the problems. Also, Chapter 1 is a review of Algebra and Coordinate Geometry. This gets students into a mental framework necessary to learn Limits (Chap 2), Differentiation (Chaps 3-4), Integration (Chaps 5-6), Logs and Exponential Functions (Chap7), etc. My ONLY complaint about this book is the way Anton leaves logs and the number e out until Chap 7. Students are expected to learn it all at once, where I feel it would be better distributed throughout the exercise sets. But, again, that is my ONLY complaint. IF YOU WANT YOUR STUDENTS TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN CALCULUS, CHOOSE THIS TEXT. It truly beats the pants off Stewart's book!

Best Entry Level Calculus text I have seen. . .

Anton's Calculus textbook is the best I have ran across. It is a fantastic text, most of the proofs are worked out and for the most part easy to follow. His writing style is clear and extensive in which he avoids being dense which is a common pitfall in many math textbooks.. (Especially Calculus.) The problems are generally the right difficulty, and the examples are generally very good. He spends a lot of time concentrating on concepts over computational techniques. Paraphrasing, I completely agree with his preface in which its more important to understand the concepts. . . because every problem in the book has been computationally solved, understanding the concepts is the most important thing. This is especially true of the at times esoteric and difficult subject of vector calculus at the end of the text. Anton also integrates (no pun intended) the use of CAS and graphing calculators in his text.The down side to the book is probably its price. It is a very expensive book! As good as this book is, Calculus is a hard subject matter. the textbook alone is not enough. Supplement it with a great teacher and a lot of hard work and one should learn calculus very well.

Pricey, but if you are looking to learn calculus, this is A+

After taking differential calculus, integral calculus, and elementary differential equations, I took a year off of college. Then when I came back, I had forgotten alot of things concerning those courses. Well, I bought this book because it had the most pages and seemed to cover the most information. Well, it was a good buy! It covered ALL of the material that I had covered in those 3 previous courses. It was a great book for refreshing my memory. This would also be a great book for learning calc for the first time also.

Best I've seen in 10 years of learning & teaching calculus!

I took my undergraduate calculus sequence from Salas & Hille's text and thought it was quite good at the time, but I think Anton's book is clearly the best I've ever seen for the beginning student who really desires a clear understanding of calculus. The mutivariable calculus is especially well presented, and it is crucial that the students understand this material for their future work in mathematics. Anton really makes a strong effort to help students understand calculus. Anton rules!