Calculus

by Jerrold E. Marsden

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• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805369309
• ISBN13: 9780805369304
• Release Date: January 1980
• Publisher: Benjamin-Cummings Publishing Company
• Length: 837 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.

Customer Reviews

An outstanding calculus book

I used the 3rd edition of Loomis when I took Calculus. The book explains the material so well that I taught myself reading the book. (I did not learn anything new in the class because I read the examples in the book before the class, and everything was clear. And I am not a super genius.) It is surprising to read the reviews that think this book is a bit abstract. It has a plenty of concrete examples, of varying degrees of difficulty, and they are worked out in reasonable detail. In fact, that is what I like about this book. I have seen some inferior calculus books or math books in general where the author works out only simple examples or insufficient variety of difficult examples. If a person is having a trouble with this book, I recommend a serious review of algebra 2. Looking back at the book now, I prefer what Swokowski did with the series chapter much better (Loomis has interesting discussions on irrational numbers etc, but at the expense of losing the focus.). But the chapters on vectors and multivariables are one of the best. The chapter on multiple integral starts out by stating that it is only an introduction to a vast subject. (The depth is comparable to most other books at this level. But I appreciate this statement after studying "advanced calculus".) It has an interesting chapter devoted to Green's theorem. It (wisely) does not discuss Jacobian (a possible handicap), div or curl. (In most books at this level, only a section is devoted to div or curl, if at all.) Now I realize that to master those concepts, we have to move on to "advanced calculus" or "vector calculus". After this book, I recommend Shuey's "Informal Vector Calculus", Buck's "Advanced Calculus". (and possibly Kreyzig's or Wiles' "Advanced Engineering Mathematics")

Calculus (3rd ed.) by Loomis isn't THAT bad

I used this book for an honors calculus course at Cornell University in the Spring of 1997, and it's not nearly as bad as some have said. I found the statements of theorems to be very clear and precise. I suppose the level of abstraction is a little high for an introductory calculus course (that's why they used it for the honors version!), but if you walk through the examples and do the exercises, it's not that tough. Besides, this book has hand-crafted figures -- you can't say that for Thomas and Finney!

A comment from a CALCULUS textbook collector.

I buy and collect CALCULUS textbooks. I read them like story books. I admire most authors of calculus, especially Howard Anton and James Stewart. People have various ways of presenting things. I would find Loomis's Calculus interesting in one sense. It depends on how you look at it. At times you like something very theoretical, that's where Loomis comes in. Try reading Small & Hosack's Calculus, you can get quite bored. For those who would like to get something quickly, I strongly recommend James Stewart's Calculus. The Thomas & Finney text is not the best in the market but it does deserve to be praised. Good luck.