High School Self learn calculus for UK A-levels?

[member 624364]

Hi, I am currently about to begin self studying for UK maths a-levels, however I am also wanting to gain a solid understanding of calculus. I know that calculus is covered in a-levels, but, the books for a-levels seem to be not as dense or as good as the US books I believe.

My question is this. Would a calculus book better explain calculus than general maths a-level books? And would it be a wise decision to study primarily off a calculus book and fill in all extra gaps required for a-leave in the a-level books?

Any advice would be very helpful. Thanks.

 

[fresh_42]

Hi, I am currently about to begin self studying for UK maths a-levels, however I am also wanting to gain a solid understanding of calculus. I know that calculus is covered in a-levels, but, the books for a-levels seem to be not as dense or as good as the US books I believe.

My question is this. Would a calculus book better explain calculus than general maths a-level books? And would it be a wise decision to study primarily off a calculus book and fill in all extra gaps required for a-leave in the a-level books?

Any advice would be very helpful. Thanks.

First I have to admit, that I do not know what's behind a-level-UK, a-level-US and general math versus calculus. However, I just collected some sources last week about self study in general. I think you'll find some useful hints and advice in them. They also list a website of good open source textbooks at various levels, so you might want to take a look:

https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/self-teaching-gcse-and-a-level-maths.933639/#post-5896947

The question I usually would ask is: What do you need to achieve (in detail), what do you want to achieve and where do you stand? The basics in school as well as in early college years are certainly calculus, trigonometry and linear algebra. To which extend depends on your goals, e.g. which tests you'll have to pass when and where.