Please recommend an honors calc book

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on the scarcity of quality honors calculus textbooks, particularly for moderately rigorous courses. Participants express frustration over the decline in quality of newer editions of popular texts like Stewart, Thomas-Finney, and Edwards-Penney, which have become overly simplified. Recommendations include exploring older texts such as Johnson-Kiokemeister and Gillman-McDowell, as well as considering Courant and Lang as potential alternatives. The conversation highlights the importance of selecting high-quality materials to enhance student learning and reduce dependency on lectures.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of honors calculus course structure
  • Familiarity with calculus textbooks such as Spivak and Courant
  • Knowledge of educational resource evaluation
  • Basic research skills for locating academic materials online
NEXT STEPS
  • Investigate the latest editions of Courant and Lang for honors calculus
  • Explore older calculus texts like Johnson-Kiokemeister and Gillman-McDowell
  • Research university course syllabi to identify recommended honors calculus books
  • Develop strategies for creating challenging homework assignments based on standard texts
USEFUL FOR

Educators teaching honors calculus, curriculum developers, and students seeking high-quality mathematical resources.

mathwonk
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I have noticed that all the decent honors calc books I am familiar with have gone out of print.

I do not mean actual pre PhD honors courses for which one can always use spivak or courant or apostol. I am just teaching a nice moderately rigorous course for which an early edition of Stewart or Thomas - Finney or Edwards - Penney would have been fine.

Unfortunately these books are dumbed down in every succeeding edition nutil they become insulting to the intelligence.

Fine old books like Johnson -Kiokemeister, Gillman - McDowell, Bers, and many many others have also disappeared.

What are the new entries in this Don Quixote like enterprise? Are there any?

I would prefer a short one, just covering one variable, and without extraneous CD rom discs glued in the binding.
 
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i did a search for calculus honors lecture notes and got some course materials. i was thinking that maybe you could use a fairly standard book but just assign harder homework that you get from spivak. also, you might try going to universities' web pages to see what books they're using for their honors calculus.
 
I tried the last suggestion but had trouble finding that information on most websites.

After reading the enthusiastic reviews of Courant and also Courant and John on Amazon, I may try one of those. Or maybe Lang. those last two are only $50-$60.

I may just use the usual book but make the course harder as you suggest. the moral dilemma there is the books cost over $100, and the poor ones cost the most.

That is a significant fraction of the cost of the course to the student, and they can wind up with a pretty useless purchase, instead of one they could profitably keep all their lives if the book is high quality.

It also makes them more dependent on class lectures for the real message of the course.

Thanks for the input.
 

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