How to Ace the Rest of Calculus: The Streetwise Guide: Including Multi-Variable Calculus

I would recommend this book purely as the authors intended, an introduction--nothing more and nothing less.


Calculus in Plain English   March 13, 2004
Chuck R. (Washington, DC United States)
17 out of 18 found this review helpful

This book is not a substitute for a textbook. By itself it seems like the explanations are too simple. This book comes in vary handy when I combine it with my class.
Calculus II gets in to some very abstract concepts, and our instructor presents the material in very abstract terms - what I mean is while I am listening I am thinking that I would really enjoy this class if I was going for my masters in mathematics, but for right now, I am not grasping what is said. Our text explains everything in huge steps leaving wide gaps in the instruction. When I leave class I can turn to this book "How to Ace the Rest of Calculus" to break everything down to my level. I can get hold of the basic meaning and concepts of what is taught, and then I have a foundation to build on.
If you are in Calculus II or III, and you go through the motions doing your homework without really knowing what is going on, this book can help. The book is easy to read, and I find it is best used right after you were taught the material.
I find if I have a good foundation on the material in a way I understand, it is much easier to remember the concepts and apply the formulas. I study hard, but with the help of this book I am not left clueless at test time.


A Wonderful Book That's To The Point! Buy it!!!!   September 5, 2003
4pixies
15 out of 16 found this review helpful

Over the course of my college career I have purchased many supplemental books to accompany my textbooks . I have found that many of these books are just as wordy as the textbooks and merely re-state the material in the text. They rarely give any new insight on the material and hardly ever make bells go off or make me think "ohhhh, that's what that meant!"

This book is not like the rest. Every concept is clearly explained and accompanied by humorous, clear examples. The real life examples help you see why we study such things as Calculus and how the relate to everyday life. They use an arrow frozen in time to explain vectors, mountain climbers as an explanation for partial derivatives, and many other examples that help you "see" the problem.

The worked out examples are easy to understand so that you can get an idea of how a problem should be looked at and worked out. These examples help you understand the basics so that you can graduate to more complicated problems.

There are not any extra problems to work out on your own but after reading this book you don't need to! If you're worried about extra practice, read this first, then work out problems in your text that provide answers in the back of the book.

It was good enough to make me right a review which I have never done in the past. I am looking forward to any other books in the "Ace" series maybe........physics, physical chemistry....

Buy the first book "How to Ace Calculus: The Streetwise Guide" to complete the set; you won't be sorry that you did.

THANK YOU!!!!


Another Outstanding Text...   September 13, 2002
13 out of 15 found this review helpful

As with the preceeding book, "How to Ace Calculus..." the authors have again presented in this text something which is all too rare in the realm of undergraduate mathematics: Math for undergrads that is understandable by undergrads! I can't count the times I've had a math professor discuss something which made sense mathematically (we got the proof) but intuitively left me nowhere. Even if you understand the mathematics of a proof, it doesn't necessarily imply that you understand the concept or idea behind it. This happens a LOT in the study of statistics, that much I can attest to from personal experience.

I've discovered, due in no small part to reading both of these texts, that intuition is just as important as the actual mathematical process. I firmly believe you can't effectively learn the latter without a good helping of the former. This book does not fail the student of calculus in this respect, not by any measure. Intuition is presented, albeit with humorous examples, in a way that just about anyone can grasp. This alone makes it worth the cheap price.

Because of this book I was able to genuienly take in and understand the material of my calculus III (multivariable & vector calc) class. I've gained a tremendous amount of self confidence when it comes to math. What I used to fear I now embrace learning and eagerly study like any other subject of interest. This book, indeed both in the series, will above all else help liberate you from fearing mathematics. You will see, even if it has to be through some humor, that math is nothing to be afraid of and can be understood just as easily as any other subject in college. All you need is the desire to learn and a clear exposition of the material. Wanting to learn is up to you, but this book can and does provide the rest.

No book is a replacement for an instructor and a "raw" classroom text with rigerous exposition and gross detail. This text and it's authors explicitly state this is not their purpose. Instead they provide a much needed bridge between the depth of a typical classroom text, and the needs of the typical student to have the processes and ideas presented in a manner they can actually relate to. Once that gap is bridged, you can actually learn something form your regular classroom text and instructor.

Do yourself an immense favor and purchase this book. Even if you only use it once or twice you will certainly get our money's worth.