What is the best way to learn calculus.

[Tom McCurdy]

What is the best way to learn calculus... I want to learn as much as possible before school starts.

please private message me if you respond

 

[.:Maverick:.]

yeah, same here. I need some advice.

 

[VantagePoint72]

ditto, maybe if you can help posting it here would be a good idea instead of sending a bunch of PMs

 

[chroot]

Get the textbook and read it. You can probably check a copy out from a local library. You might also be able to call your teacher or principal and see if they'd be willing to give you a book a bit earlier than usual.

There are also loads of sites on the web that have tutorials on calc, but nothing (in my opinion) is really going to beat a well-written textbook. If you have any questions while you're reading the book, ask here!

- Warren

 

[homology]

In particular you could find out what textbook your class will be using and start on that.

Kevin

 

[lvlastermind]

This site worked for me, tought me the basics pretty well.

Just read 15 or 20 pages a day and do the problems, doesn't take that long.

http://www.math.wisc.edu/~keisler/calc.html

 

[homology]

This site worked for me, tought me the basics pretty well.

Just read 15 or 20 pages a day and do the problems, doesn't take that long.

http://www.math.wisc.edu/~keisler/calc.html

So have you gone on and used this knowledge in other classes then? I just wonder since Keisler, the book you used, based his calculus method on Nonstandard Analysis (NSA) a "version" of analysis using infinitesimals instead of limits. He tried popularizing a calculus version of this in a textbook but it didn't catch on to my knowledge. Just curious to see what you've used your calculus knowledge for.

Kevin

 

[lvlastermind]

So have you gone on and used this knowledge in other classes then? I just wonder since Keisler, the book you used, based his calculus method on Nonstandard Analysis (NSA) a "version" of analysis using infinitesimals instead of limits. He tried popularizing a calculus version of this in a textbook but it didn't catch on to my knowledge. Just curious to see what you've used your calculus knowledge for.
Kevin

I have not yet taken high school calc. I read the tutorial earlier this summer.

 

[Gokul43201]

Get a decent calc book - I like Joseph Edwards' Diff. Calc. but there are tons of decent books - AND WORK OUT ALL THE FREAKIN' PROBLEMS.

Did you catch the emphasis at the end ?

 

[Zorodius]

I recommend the "How to Ace Calculus: The Streetwise Guide" series. They're cheap, entertaining explanations of Calculus topics. They don't replace an actual textbook, but they don't try to. They just provide a palatable summary of the concepts in Calculus.

 

[Gza]

I recommend Stewarts book for beginners. It's skim on the heavy proofs and such, but strong on the concepts. Find it and buy it!

 

[Chrono]

What is the best way to learn calculus... I want to learn as much as possible before school starts.

There may be ways where you can contact a former math teacher of yours and ask them. That's what I would do. This is more feasible in college than in high school, however.

 

[sunny86]

Practise make perfect ! For me , the way to get good result in calculus is practise more . Maths do not requires memorizing but undertanding and practise.
Cheer..

 

[FlatlineLemon]

There may be ways where you can contact a former math teacher of yours and ask them. That's what I would do. This is more feasible in college than in high school, however.

absolutely great advice. when i first started taking calc i was getting help from 3 of my previous teachers. its weird because they enjoy it too, usually they haven't seen advanced problems in a few years.

 

[mathwonk]

How to learn it depends on how deeply you want to understand it. Whether you just want to be able to solve standard problems, or whether you want to understand the foundations of the material too.

Probably the easiest beginners book, no theory at all, is Calculus made Easy, by Silvanus P. Thompson, been around almost 100 years. Keywords: "what one fool can do, another can".

A step up, but still very intuitive and well motivated, is Lectures on freshman calculus, by Cruse and Granberg, unfortunately out of print and hard to find.

For a more standard text, bigger and heavier, with pretty clear explanations, and lots of problems, choose one of the typical college calc texts, like Cooke and Finney (preferably an older edition like 9th), Stewart (same recommendation, say 2nd ed.), or Edwards and Penney (same again, 1st, 2nd, or 3rd ed.).

If you really want a text that explains deeply what the ideas behind calculus are, you need something better, and harder, like Courant and John, or Spivak, or Apostol.

These are no - nonsense, mathematicians version of the material, for the brightest most motivated students, such as top Univ of Chicago freshmen.

Suggestion: go to a college library and sit in the stacks and read until you find one you like.

 

[StonedPanda]

Anton was a great calc book.

Vis a vis that infentissimal stuff: It isn't that different from what you'd normally learn. In fact, the difference is trivial. However, for a beginning calc student, do a search for "calc tutorial" and I'm sure you'll find stuff.

 

[Tom McCurdy]

ty for all the advice