Calculus (with CD-ROM)

Rating:
Summary: Dropped After One Year
Review: We adopted this book because several of our neighboring colleges use the text. After using the book I am stunned that any college continues to use it. Our department never had so many complaints from students. We almost always suffer through a text for the full 4-year adoption period. This text was so bad that we dropped it after one year.

Rating:
Summary: The Emperor's New Clothes
Review: I have been teaching calculus at a university for over 20 years. I was on the adoption committee to select calculus texts. I had heard that the Stewart text was a national best seller, so I volunteered to review it. I was startled. I can see now reason why this text is widely used. It is even more difficult to believe that its author has had any classroom experience with honest-to-goodness calculus students. The writing is rambling and obtuse. The design is not helpful and blends prose with examples. The art is irregular, some art is small and some is huge, some topics that cry for graphs have none and some that don't need graphs have several. I have used several other texts and it appears that the author used a cut and paste technique to create this text, taking liberally from other best sellers. After a careful review of this "popular" text, I felt obligated to write this review. Someone needs to point out that the "emperor is not wearing any clothes!"

Rating:
Summary: Terrible Book
Review: I could write a book about my bad experiences with this text. Thank goodness I had a good teacher because the book did not help me at all. Also, a warning to other students. The answers in the back of the book are often wrong!

Rating:
Summary: NOT Recommended
Review: This book is not recommended for students who need clear simple writing. I really bugs me that teachers are the ones who choose textbooks. They often seem to choose a high-toned book like this. It is clearly written for teachers, NOT for students.

Rating:
Summary: Difficult Book
Review: I took calculus from this book. I am an engineering student. The book did not help me in my engineering classes. To get help, I had to go to the library and check out other calculus books that had more practical, engineering examples. I would not recommend this book to a student who wants to know how calculus is used in engineering.

Rating:
Summary: A VERY DRY TEXTBOOK - AND I KNOW THE OTHERS TOO!
Review: Don't waste your time with this book folks. Not only is it the dryest textbook I've had the displeasure of using, it gives the learning student a lack of example problems that would facilitate learning. This is clearly one of the worst calculus books ever to be published. Don't waste your money on this textbook. The greatest textbook I could recommend to you, dear reader, is Howard Anton's Calculus with Analytic Geometry. It is a University textbook that is far superior to Stewart's. It is eveything that Stewart's book isn't. I have used both of these books in a University environment. Good luck!

Rating:
Summary: a college student writes..
Review: My Professor says, there are two school of thoughts in mathematics. One group thinks Geometrically and the other group thinks in terms of Algebra. I being a geometric thinker of mathematics, appreciate this book because of the use of *applications* of Calculus. Mathematics by itself means nothing to me. I like it when it's applicable to the world around us, to Biology, Engineering, Economics, etc. This book shows that mathematics is a relative subject. And, it cannot be avoided.

Rating:
Summary: Good enough of a book for me
Review: Mr. Stewart is a really good writer; he explains many concepts quite clearly, and his book contains most of the important proofs in freshmen Calculus. The book has many sample problems as well as good sections on application problems. It's a great book to use for the AP Calculus test because it covers everything needed. I have the Early Transcendental version of this book, meaning that the chapters were arranged differently, but every thing was the same except the order. If you buy this edition (which I recommend), know that the 3rd edition of this book put the basic differential equations section (with Newton's law of cooling and the like) before they teach you integration, and Stewart just waves his hands like you knew integration already. Other than that, the early transcendental arrangement is great.

Rating:
Summary: Words from a master
Review: If you're mainly interested in the applications of calculus, then this is a good book to get. If you are more interested in the theoretical aspect of calculus or are thinking about becoming a research mathematician, I believe Spivak's Calculus (also available at amazon.com) is the best book out there for you. If you are the type of person who needs to see all the details to understand something, you might like this book. If you are easily bored with details and think you can figure things out from just a short discussion, you might find this book a bit wordy.

Rating:
Summary: Calculus the infininte Process
Review: An excelent book to discover the infinite process of Calculus. A process so pure in thought, most neglect what it really means and dread the whole course. To the few that actually come some what close to understanding infinity, this book will let you explore for the first time what math really is: A creative process that only relies on simplicity, a simplicity over looked in a sea of symbols and numbers.