How to Ace the Rest of Calculus

by Colin Conrad Adams, Joel Hass, Joel R. Hass

Book Overview

The sequel to How to Ace Calculus , How to Ace the Rest of Calculus provides humorous and highly readable explanations of the key topics of second and third semester calculus--such as sequences and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0716741741
• ISBN13: 9780716741749
• Release Date: May 2001
• Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL
• Length: 312 Pages
• Weight: 1.19 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 7.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Refreshing

You've never read a Vector Calc text like this before! With that being said, do not even read this book if you are looking for a serious introduction to Multivariable Calculus. Don't even bother to open it if you want to learn the subject in depth. This book is for those who are looking for a light, humorous and informative introduction to Vector Calc that focuses on teaching you the techniques you'll need to succeed in Calc 3, and explaining the concepts in "plain language". If you take math (too) seriously, this book will just annoy you (and if you don't like silly jokes this book will probably annoy you). However, if you are looking for a refreshingly crisp introduction to Vector Calc you will not be disappointed. This book will work best as a supplement to your class studies, or as a light-hearted math read in your spare time. DO not expect to master Vector Calc using this book alone. That is not its purpose. Highly recommended.

Calculus in Plain English

This book is not a substitute for a textbook. By itself it seems like the explanations are too simple. This book comes in vary handy when I combine it with my class. Calculus II gets in to some very abstract concepts, and our instructor presents the material in very abstract terms - what I mean is while I am listening I am thinking that I would really enjoy this class if I was going for my masters in mathematics, but for right now, I am not grasping what is said. Our text explains everything in huge steps leaving wide gaps in the instruction. When I leave class I can turn to this book "How to Ace the Rest of Calculus" to break everything down to my level. I can get hold of the basic meaning and concepts of what is taught, and then I have a foundation to build on.If you are in Calculus II or III, and you go through the motions doing your homework without really knowing what is going on, this book can help. The book is easy to read, and I find it is best used right after you were taught the material.I find if I have a good foundation on the material in a way I understand, it is much easier to remember the concepts and apply the formulas. I study hard, but with the help of this book I am not left clueless at test time.

This book saved my GPA

This book has been more help to me than my Calculus textbook, and has made tricky concepts easy to understand. After getting a 51 & a 57 on my first Calculus II exams, I got desperate and purchased this book, as well as its prequel, "How To Ace Calculus." I read through both books all the way up to where I was in the course and had a revelation, Calculus finally made sense to me! I did extremely well on the next two exams and got the second best grade in the class on the final, ending up with a B in the course. Not too bad after getting a warning from the department in the middle of the semester, and it's all thanks to this book. It is an easy read, with very concise explanations and a dose of humor for good measure.

A Wonderful Book That's To The Point! Buy it!!!!

Over the course of my college career I have purchased many supplemental books to accompany my textbooks . I have found that many of these books are just as wordy as the textbooks and merely re-state the material in the text. They rarely give any new insight on the material and hardly ever make bells go off or make me think "ohhhh, that's what that meant!" This book is not like the rest. Every concept is clearly explained and accompanied by humorous, clear examples. The real life examples help you see why we study such things as Calculus and how the relate to everyday life. They use an arrow frozen in time to explain vectors, mountain climbers as an explanation for partial derivatives, and many other examples that help you "see" the problem. The worked out examples are easy to understand so that you can get an idea of how a problem should be looked at and worked out. These examples help you understand the basics so that you can graduate to more complicated problems. There are not any extra problems to work out on your own but after reading this book you don't need to! If you're worried about extra practice, read this first, then work out problems in your text that provide answers in the back of the book.It was good enough to make me right a review which I have never done in the past. I am looking forward to any other books in the "Ace" series maybe........physics, physical chemistry....Buy the first book "How to Ace Calculus: The Streetwise Guide" to complete the set; you won't be sorry that you did.THANK YOU!!!!

Great Introduction

This book is very strong (10 out of 10) for Calculus II, namely in the areas of indeterminant forms and improper integrals, polar coordinates, sequences and series, vectors, parametric coordinates, and graphing. It is pretty strong (9/10) in the areas of partial derivatives and integration of many variables. In vector fields, "How to Ace the Rest of Calculus" is sketchy. It covers divergence and curl well, as well as the basics about vector fields. However, the book does not do very well (6/10) in explaining the finer points in vector fields, such as Line and Surface Integrals, Green's Theorem, and Stoke's Theorems, in which more examples would be useful. If a problem arises in line or surface integrals (including Green's and Stoke's Theorems), don't look to this book to clear it up.I would recommend this book purely as the authors intended, an introduction--nothing more and nothing less.