I wish I could take calculus again

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    Calculus
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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the desire to refresh and improve calculus skills after a significant time away from the subject. Participants share resources, personal experiences, and recommendations for textbooks and websites that could aid in reviewing calculus concepts and problems.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested
  • Homework-related

Main Points Raised

  • One participant expresses a need to practice calculus to maintain skills, particularly in preparation for teaching high school students.
  • Several participants suggest various resources, including specific calculus textbooks like James Stewart's and Hardy's "A Course of Pure Mathematics," noting their personal preferences and experiences with these texts.
  • Some participants mention websites for calculus problems, such as SOS MATH and Exambot, as useful for practice.
  • There is a discussion about the effectiveness of tutoring as a method to reinforce one's own understanding of calculus.
  • One participant shares a specific integral problem and discusses methods for solving it, while another corrects their interpretation of the integrand.
  • Concerns about the relevance and difficulty of certain calculus texts are raised, with differing opinions on the value of older versus newer materials.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a variety of opinions on the best resources for learning calculus, with no clear consensus on which textbooks or websites are superior. Some participants appreciate certain texts while others critique them, indicating a range of preferences and experiences.

Contextual Notes

Participants mention specific areas of calculus they find challenging, such as Taylor series, and express varying levels of confidence in their skills. There is also a recognition that individual learning styles may influence the effectiveness of different resources.

Who May Find This Useful

This discussion may be useful for students looking to refresh their calculus knowledge, educators seeking resources for teaching calculus, and anyone interested in recommendations for calculus textbooks and practice problems.

modmans2ndcoming
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it has been 3 semesters since I was finished with my calc and moved on to other mathematics like analysis and modern algebra...my calc skills have really degraded. anyone know of a good website that has a nice range of calc problems I can use to keep me sharp (or even to help me get better int eh areas I was weak in) ? thanks.
 
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Solve:

[tex]\int{e^{x^2}} dx[/tex]

[tex]\int{sin (x^2) dx[/tex]
 
Hehe jk, whenever i feel i need to review necessary calculus i usually pick up my old text by James Stewart--- Calculus 5th edition or 4th edition or whatever...

Id search for a good text or just google it. Simple as that.
 
the problem is that I hated my textbook.
 
Here is a nice one that tests a couple of basic skills of integration:

[tex]\int x\cosh^{-1} x dx[/tex]

I'll look around at a few of the sites my teachers gave me, what areas do you struggle with?
 
hmm, Taylor series for sure (I recall doing the worst on that section) everything else is just equal degradation, you know...you see something and you know what to use, but you for got how to use it... Calc Skills have not been a top priority for me since I finished calc 3 (even in real number analysis I did not need to press my self)

now I am in Linear Algebra (Finally...though that is not nearly as embarrassing as forgetting to take freshman statistics [I am a senior and have 2 classes left in upper level for my major to be complete] :-), that is sure to be fun, having to sit through stupid questions from people who have had no interest in math since...for ever!)

so basically if I want to get out of college with a semblance of the skills that I had in calc when I was in the classes (and I will need it since I am going to teach it to smart high schoolers eventually) I have to hit my self with a problem or two a day to keep on the ball.
 
Z-

That integral seems like it should be done by parts--- set u = x and dv = cosh x, which is = 0.5*(e^x + e^-x). Too lazy to solve it out though!
 
Become a tutor. The best way to learn anything is to teach it.
 
HallsofIvy said:
Become a tutor. The best way to learn anything is to teach it.

I'll second that!
 
  • #10
Theelectricchild said:
Z-

That integral seems like it should be done by parts--- set u = x and dv = cosh x, which is = 0.5*(e^x + e^-x). Too lazy to solve it out though!
Sorry no, you've read the integrand wrong, it should be x multiplied by inverse cosh of x.
 
  • #11
that is a good idea.

HallsofIvy said:
Become a tutor. The best way to learn anything is to teach it.

I thought about doing that last semester but never looked into it. But let's not say "learn" since the last thing a student wants is a teacher who does not know the subject :-)
 
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  • #12
Hardy's "A Course of Pure Math" is an awesome calculus book (for people who already know the stuff, I think) with all its evil integrals, etc. That book is jam-packed with all sorts of cool math "trivia" that is hard to fnd in any newer books. I guess Spivak's calculus text is good too, but not as good as Hardy's.
 
  • #13
fourier jr said:
Hardy's "A Course of Pure Math" is an awesome calculus book (for people who already know the stuff, I think) with all its evil integrals, etc. That book is jam-packed with all sorts of cool math "trivia" that is hard to fnd in any newer books. I guess Spivak's calculus text is good too, but not as good as Hardy's.

It seems the book is hard to find, too. It isn't available at Amazon.
 
  • #14
  • #15
Then what in the world was I looking at? Aw, it doesn't matter, I'm glad you found it for me. Thanks!
 
  • #16
G.H. Hardy
A Course of Pure Mathematics
Cambridge University Press Trade Paperback. Good/None. 509 pages,indexed, THIRD EDITION, rubbed exterior, still well glued.
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  • #17
This website is my favorite(next to this one) of all timeSOS MATH
 
  • #18
Exambot is a good place to get some printable worksheets on calculus.
 
  • #19
I do not like hardy's book (which i bought for $2. new) as well as either spivak's or courant's, or apostol's myself, as I am not as inetrested in a bunch of kinky integrals and old tripos problems from 1910. on the other hand, hardy's 2nd edition lives forever in my mind for its preface in which he apologizes for writing the first edition like a "missionary talking to cannibals", and explains that subsequent advances in mathematical education in cambridge made it possible for him to be more succint. Of course that meant to me, that I would prefer the first edition with its greater detail! still it is a great book, just not one i personally find it pertinent to refer to as often as courant, say.
 
  • #20
Mathwonk, what do you think about James Stewart's Calculus books?
 
  • #21
Oooh that's what I used in my calc series at my school- stewart 5th ed early transcendentals... I liked it, great progression through the material, and the chapters on vector calculus and multiple integrals were great. there's even a final chapter in there on 2nd order homogenous and non homogenous differential equations.
 
  • #22
Cyclovenom said:
Mathwonk, what do you think about James Stewart's Calculus books?

I know you didn't ask me, but I'll tell you this anyway. I haven't heard very many good things about it, however, it is one of the books my calculus professor had recommended we get one if we want a book of that sort.
 
  • #23
Thanks, Personally, I like James Stewarts Examples and it has a intermediate rigoruous calculus [At least 4th Edition], I know because i got another 3 books of Calculus:

1) Advanced Calculus by Wilfred Kaplan [9th Edition] (It's pretty complete as far as I've seen).

2) Elements of the differential and integral calculus by William Anthony Granville [Revised Edition] (It covers a lot of stuff and has very nice problems for the math majors, except it doesn't cover linear algebra)

3) University Calculus by Howard E. Taylor and Thomas L. Wade (I didn't bother to check it much, it seems nice, but it's just full of theorems, and exercises, it bores me to death... i mostly use it to check theorems and such...)

Althought it looks like Courant seems to be the best book to learn from... Maybe i will consider buying it.
 
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