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Title: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Calculus by W. Michael Kelley ISBN: 0-02-864365-8 Publisher: Alpha Books Pub. Date: 15 June, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.79 (19 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Very comprehensive and thourough.
Comment: Recently I was at the book store searching for a calculus book such as this one to purchase. The store had many study guides and the like, and after reading a few pages of each book I grabbed, I found Kelley's book to be the most comprehensive.
What made this book special was that every page of information is accompanied by an illustration and/or a side note, and these items help to further make the caluclus concepts and methods more understandable. Other calculus books did not utilize illustrations, graphs, and side notes as this one did. For example, u-substitution for integrals was well explained and I understood it in Kelley's book, whereas in a few other calculus books, I had difficulty understanding.
This book covers all the necessary calculus material for a first-year calculus class: limit and continuity, differentiation, and integration. However, particularly good about this book is that there are chapters on such things as parametric equations, differential equations, and infinite series - things that other calculus books, such as "How to Ace Caluclus: The Streetwise Guide," didn't even mention. This book also contains heavy algebra and trigonometry review in the early chapters, in case you need a reference to brush up.
Even more, Kelley's manner of explaining the calculus concepts and methods are clear and simple, described with liveliness and humor. Each chapter, and the calculus concept it contained, was well delineated.
Perhaps my only criticism is that there are not enough practice problems for the reader. Each section contains one or two "You've Got Problems" boxes, which then only contain one or two problems. Some other books on the subject contained far more pages and examples for your to practice your new knowledge of calculus. A full practice calculus test at the end, containing problems from every chapter, would have made this book perfect.
Still, the comprehensive and clear-cut value of Kelley's lessons make this book very worthwhile for anyone about to take a calculus class for the first time, such as myself - or anyone who is simply curious on the subject and wants to impress their friends with this knowledge.
Due to such comprehensive lessons, and because this book covers material that some other books on the subject do not, "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Calculus" is perhaps one of the top study guides on calculus. I strongly recommend it.
Rating: 5
Summary: Great refresher for an old dog who had forgotten Calculus
Comment: It has been over 30 years since I last used Calculus. I learned Calculus in College, thought I was pretty good using Calculus, but never used it in my profession. Now that I am retired and have a son in high school, I thought why not relearn Calculus and see if I can apply these skills in some way. So I bought this book. It is well written and recommend it as a text book for any Calculus course - it takes the pain out of understanding this subject. In fact, there are concepts presented here that I don't think I really understood when I was in College and that is the "why's" and "what can I do with this" type stuff. I've highlighted, marked in, and made a separate notebook of notes from my copy of this book.
The CONS: I found only a few minor math errors in the text, and the description on how to use the Integration U-Substitution should be better explained. But, these should in no way detract from the overall quality of the book.
Again, its a well written, concise book that I highly recommend. I think this book can be used in a high-school or college course on Calculus would make life easier for the student. If you are new to Calculus, another Calc book with further explanation might speed you along. Sometimes, another author can express words in a way that helps you quickly understand. I had to reach for another book to understand U-Substitution.
This book is great at explaining Calculus.
Rating: 2
Summary: More difficult than a textbook
Comment: This book starts out painfully slowly, leading you to believe that when the author gets to the hard stuff, he'll go slowly enough so you can follow him. Bus as soon as he gets to integrals and derivatives, he seems to speed up. I wanted many more simple examples of these basic ideas so I could actually understand how they were being solved. For example, instead of slowly teaching you how to find integrals, he gives three (three!) "easy" examples before he adds on sine functions and the like.
Look at other calculus books before you buy this one. What would be covered in an entire chapter in a textbook is covered in half of a page here. Idiot's Guide my fanny.
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Title: Calculus Made Easy by Silvanus P. Thompson, Martin Gardner ISBN: 0312185480 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 08 September, 1998 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
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Title: Calculus for Dummies by Mark Ryan ISBN: 0764524984 Publisher: For Dummies Pub. Date: 01 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.99 |
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Title: 3,000 Solved Problems in Calculus by Elliott Mendelson ISBN: 0070415234 Publisher: McGraw-Hill Trade Pub. Date: 01 January, 1988 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: How to Ace Calculus : The Streetwise Guide by Colin Adams, Joel Hass, Abigail Thompson ISBN: 0716731606 Publisher: W H Freeman & Co. Pub. Date: 15 July, 1998 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Physics: By Johnnie T. Dennis (Complete Idiot's Guide To...) by Johnnie T. Dennis, Chris Eliopoulos, Gilbert Ford ISBN: 159257081X Publisher: Alpha Books Pub. Date: 05 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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