Calculus (8th Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Classic "Attachable" book
Review: This book stinks. Most of the positive reviews came from mathematicians not from students that have to study from this book! My fear of calculus is worsen after using this book. For someone who try to make it though college and working her tails off this book isn't helping. I'm not saying that it have to be easy, but there are so many erros in this book that I wasted my time trying to figured it out how to solve some problem that isn't even correct! Many students told me that have they not been taking calcus before, they probably won't pass the class. This book doesn't give good method of how it goes from point A to point B. There were a number of times where I would stare at the pages, wondering how the book came up with the answers, (was it magic). Another very annoying thing about this book is giving the easiest example problems that it can. This can really screw me over when it gives an oversimplified example for a theorem, and then in the problem set, there isn't any guide of how I can solve it. There were alot of problems that I couldn't even start because this book didn't give me adequate explanations or examples! Bottom line is, I don't think I'm that stupid, but this book really hurt myself esteem.

Rating:
Summary: Calculus 8th Edition Varberg, Purcell, Rigdon
Review: This book stinks. Most of the positive reviews came from mathematicians not from students that have to study from this book! My fear of calculus is worsen after using this book. For someone who try to make it though college and working her tails off this book isn't helping. I'm not saying that it have to be easy, but there are so many erros in this book that I wasted my time trying to figured it out how to solve some problem that isn't even correct! Many students told me that have they not been taking calcus before, they probably won't pass the class. This book doesn't give good method of how it goes from point A to point B. There were a number of times where I would stare at the pages, wondering how the book came up with the answers, (was it magic). Another very annoying thing about this book is giving the easiest example problems that it can. This can really screw me over when it gives an oversimplified example for a theorem, and then in the problem set, there isn't any guide of how I can solve it. There were alot of problems that I couldn't even start because this book didn't give me adequate explanations or examples! Bottom line is, I don't think I'm that stupid, but this book really hurt myself esteem.

Rating:
Summary: good but solutions manual is a must have
Review: This is a good book for calculus. I usually go to class and do not undestand the professor because he speaks a different language then come home and figure it out from the book. The solutions manual is a must have for this course unless you have an excellent teacher or tudor. I find it helpful to check my problems half-way through completing them to make sure I am on the right track. And when I do not understand the text book instructions, the solutions manual usually puts me on track.

Rating:
Summary: good but solutions manual is a must have
Review: This is a good book for calculus. I usually go to class and do not undestand the professor because he speaks a different language then come home and figure it out from the book. The solutions manual is a must have for this course unless you have an excellent teacher or tudor. I find it helpful to check my problems half-way through completing them to make sure I am on the right track. And when I do not understand the text book instructions, the solutions manual usually puts me on track.

Rating:
Summary: The Best
Review: This is one of the most straightforward Calc texts I've seen.

Rating:
Summary: Unsuitable for those new to "the Calculus."
Review: This is probably a good reference for advanced math students, teachers, mathematicians, etc. For newcomers to calculus, it's just hard to understand. As an adult learner who has learned math from books and is no stranger to self-directed studies, this book's math-speak explanations and "abracadabra" examples had all the calc newbies in my Calc I class bamboozled. Even my instructor had difficulty explaining the difference between her methods and the book's. Upon consulting other texts, the same concepts were easily revealed. The student solutions manual is, at times, as obscure as the text, sometimes leaving out significant steps. Some problems are explicated with different notation. In my humble opinion, Sylvanus Thompson's *Calculus Made Easy* and the HarperCollins' *Introduction to Calculus* and other "easy calc" books are better for introducing basic concepts to the calculus newbie.