Calculus

by Andrew Pasquale, Andrew M. Gleason, Daniel E. Flath, et al.

Book Overview

Calculus teachers recognize Calculus as the leading resource among the ?reform? projects that employ the rule of four and streamline the curriculum in order to deepen conceptual understanding. The fifth edition uses all strands of the ?Rule of Four? ? graphical, numeric, symbolic/algebraic, and verbal/applied presentations ? to make concepts easier to understand. The book focuses on exploring fundamental ideas rather than comprehensive coverage of...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0470089148
• ISBN13: 9780470089149
• Release Date: December 2008
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
• Length: 1149 Pages
• Weight: 5.11 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.8" x 8.8" x 10.6"

Customer Reviews

Great Book!

I don't know why so many people dislike this book...I probably learn in a different manner than they do. I've had to learn most of my calculus through Stewart's Early Transcendentals book, which I found very dry and mostly uninteresting. Luckily, I bought this book while I was taking a year off and taught myself calculus, having never even heard of a limit or a derivative before. If you like thinking about the ideas behind things, and then learning about the formalism and mathematics of it, then this book is for you. If you prefer proofs, analysis, and "learn these steps and solve these problems" examples, you'll probably want to find a different text. I can remember, though, the JOY of actually deriving things for myself, like how to calculate the volume of a solid rotated about some line or some such nonsense, because I could understand exactly what was needed. That is how I would describe this book: It's not a book about proving theorems and making you memorize a bunch of rules. Instead, it makes you really understand the subject matter, so that you can use the ideas of calculus to solve a variety of problems, even if they're problems you have no idea how to solve when you first read through them! That is one thing that this book taught me that I found indespensible. You don't have to know how to do something, because you might be able to figure it out yourself instead of having some professor or text book or internet article tell you how to! Perhaps this approach is a little too ambitious, and I'll admit I spent a lot of time going through this text trying to reason things out, but it was time well spent. So I suppose my advice would be not to buy this book unless you have to (for a course), or you're really willing to go through those problems spending a lot of time thinking about how to apply the IDEAS presented in the examples and text to the problem at hand. In the latter case, I think you'll find that the time you invest in this book will give you unexpected rewards.

Clear, precise, detailed. I learned a lot from this book!

This book was used for my Fall 2002 Calculus III (multivariable) class. We used the last section of the book, chapters 12-19. I was able to review old concepts when needed from the earlier chapters, which were presented nicely.I have noticed that a lot of other reviewers here have mixed feelings about this text. It would help if they stated their background which should be taken into account. I am a junior computer science/mathematics double major who does well in both subjects and is not afraid of reading through a long proof or spending time on advanced problems. Thus, my perspective is that of an advanced student. I noticed that the other students in my class were not all mathematics majors and there were a lot of physics/chemistry majors in the group. These people are probably learning from a pragmatic perspective and could probably care less about proofs, so as long as they pass they are happy.The chapters from the book that I read in detail (12-19) I found to be full of great illustrations and examples and were presented in a clear logical manner without superfluous material/examples. Starting with the basic tools needed for multivariable calculus (multivariable functions, vector algebra), I found myself grasping topics and ideas very quickly (I aced the course). The exercises were not too difficult and could be solved in a few minutes using the information from the section. The problems require more time and sometimes ideas from other sections/subjects, but none are too difficult. Mostly every topic was given a algebraic and geometric explaination. The book provides a great introduction for beginners while the scope of topics covered appeals to advanced students as well.In comparison to my old calculus text (Stewart) I found this book to have a lot more material in general that wasn't in Stewart, such as trig sub and fourier series. There is also a chapter on differential equations, which I should probably read before my class starts next semester ;D .In summary, this review is from the perspective of a young mathematician, and I felt that it was perfect for me to learn from. I liked it enough to keep it. If you are in the same category you will find this to be a wonderful text. It is hard to say whether or not it should be recommended for beginners/non-math students, since I am not one, but from the other reviews on here it seems like some people have had trouble. If that's the case you might want to find a supplement (Standard Deviant's or Cliff's Notes). Learning calculus for the non-math student is not easy, so the best way is to just work harder.

A good reference book

When I took Multivariable Calculus, we used "Multivariable Calculus" by James Stewart in class. I personal like Stewart's book very much because it made me understand without the help of my professor. With a supplement of this book, I found I understand Multivariable Calculus in a more comprehensive way. All in all, I like this book a lot.

Great introductory calculus text for the SERIOUS student.

As one first pages through this book, it is apparent that this is not a conventional math text. Every previous text i've had through school gave everything to me on a silver platter. This book encourages critical thinking rather than "plugging and chugging" useing memorized formula. This is one of the reasons people don't like the text. Students cannot simply page through the chapter they didn't read and memorize the formulas for the test. The only bad points i can make are: 1. The student solutions manual is way too short(everyotherodd). 2. Chapter 7 section on the analysis of Simpson's rule and Improper integrals was a bit vague. To sum things up, if your serious about learing calculus-buy this text.

Wonderful book! Easy to learn from.

Great calculus book. Interesting problems and easy to learn with things presented in three different ways.