- #1
shihabdider
- 9
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First of all, let me just say hello to the community here, as I am new and this is my first post (hopefully of many).
Now on to business. Recently I have been reading a book by Silvanus Thompson called Calculus Made Easy. Now, I took Calculus in my junior year of H.S (I am a senior now) but it was the teacher's first time teaching the subject, and the assigned text was too convoluted to read. (In fact the only times I opened it were to do H.W assignments.) In either case, I did not care enough about the class to self-study by some other means and was somehow able to pass.
A year later I have come to realize my ignorance in even the most basic concepts in calculus and decided to try and self-learn it. Calculus Made Easy was pretty much a godsend, as it explained all of the conceptual ideas in an easy and readable format. Some of the ideas in the book, such as the explanation of the derivative in terms of "little bits of x and y" (i.e dx and dy) and the derivation of the exponential series blew my mind. Now, you might laugh at me but it was really the first time that calculus was more than "plug and chug" to me.
But I digress. The point of this story and this post is this question: Are there any other books out there like Calculus Made Easy? Books that clarify the arcane mysteries of the mathematical world in a simple, easy to understand, mathematical jargon free speech. Now while I would like to pursue Calculus a bit further, I am equally open to other branches of mathematics. What I would especially like is some sort of progression. (e.g Trigonometry comes before Calculus and Algebra before Trigonometry).
In the end though it doesn't matter, I am willing to read any book on any topic so long as it is as simple and enlightening as Calculus Made Easy has been.
Now on to business. Recently I have been reading a book by Silvanus Thompson called Calculus Made Easy. Now, I took Calculus in my junior year of H.S (I am a senior now) but it was the teacher's first time teaching the subject, and the assigned text was too convoluted to read. (In fact the only times I opened it were to do H.W assignments.) In either case, I did not care enough about the class to self-study by some other means and was somehow able to pass.
A year later I have come to realize my ignorance in even the most basic concepts in calculus and decided to try and self-learn it. Calculus Made Easy was pretty much a godsend, as it explained all of the conceptual ideas in an easy and readable format. Some of the ideas in the book, such as the explanation of the derivative in terms of "little bits of x and y" (i.e dx and dy) and the derivation of the exponential series blew my mind. Now, you might laugh at me but it was really the first time that calculus was more than "plug and chug" to me.
But I digress. The point of this story and this post is this question: Are there any other books out there like Calculus Made Easy? Books that clarify the arcane mysteries of the mathematical world in a simple, easy to understand, mathematical jargon free speech. Now while I would like to pursue Calculus a bit further, I am equally open to other branches of mathematics. What I would especially like is some sort of progression. (e.g Trigonometry comes before Calculus and Algebra before Trigonometry).
In the end though it doesn't matter, I am willing to read any book on any topic so long as it is as simple and enlightening as Calculus Made Easy has been.