Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 13
 Excellent for Engineering Review by old timers October 29, 1999
Ing. Ralph Hauke Moran (Panama, central America)
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
Mr. Selby's book has given my mind a "rebirth" on subjects fading into the past. His text is very well organized and very clear. I very much appreciate his text, and highly recommend it specially to college students and "old timers!.
Great book January 12, 1999
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
I like the no non-sense presentation of the material. The book moves very quickly. It is dense in topics, but the presentation is very readable. You'll often wonder why you're not further into the book... yet you feel that you have really covered a lot of material.The explanations are great. And I have found that by answering the questions, that I catch tiny little mistakes in my understanding. I picked up this book after a debate with one of my friends over a trig question. I am very satisfied with my purchase and highly recommend this book. John D.
 The Pleasure of Finding Things Out December 27, 2002
Juan (Bogota, Colombia)
39 out of 40 found this review helpful
Like many people, I didn't learn anything in any meaningful way in high school, so later in life I realized I lacked the necessary mathematical skills to pursue my interests in science.
Looking to fill that void I got this book and its companion introductory volume, "Peter Selby and Steve Slavin - Practical Algebra: A Self-Teaching Guide", and was extremely relieved to verify that mathematical illiteracy can be remedied with the right tools.
These books not only taught me the basics of algebra and geometry, but more importantly, gave me a glimpse of how mathematical ideas are developed. Concepts that before had appeared to me to be mystical elaborations now seem full of reason and purpose, thanks to the self-contained nature of these two books and the step by step construction of ever more complex themes, an approach that enables the reader to sense the necessity and reason behind mathematics. The authors focus not on mechanical repetition but on understanding, on making sense to the student, so everything fits in in a meaningful way, instead of appearing as a loose aggregation of disjointed bits. I really got a lot of enjoyment out of learning all the material, and finding out what a wonderful world of ideas this knowledge opens up.
Of course, being a great book doesn't mean being a flawless book, and this one indeed has its shortcomings. First, these two volumes do not cover logarithms at all, so you'll have to look for that subject elsewhere. Also, the plain geometry, analytic geometry, and conic sections chapters have insufficient exercises, so you'll probably want to get an additional text to get some more practice in those areas. Finally, even though the books are a very good and well-rounded introduction, they do not go into much depth in any area. On the other hand, the discussion of the concept of limits is truly great.
If your knowledge of mathematics has ever held you back personally or professionally, this is a great place to start changing that!!
After you're finished with these two I recommend you move on to "James Stewart - Calculus", a true gem of a book... but that's another review ;-)
Excellent for Geometry May 10, 2000
14 out of 14 found this review helpful
An excellent text for learning or refreshing your memory on geometry. I felt the sections on trigonometry could have been better, but overall a helpful book.
Calculus prep - or Precalc review July 23, 2008
John P. Wright (Seattle)
This particular calculus study guide is clearly oriented for those whom are considering engineering or science related fields as business calculus will have less of a need of geometry and trigonometry. For those whom are interested in engineering/science fields and struggled a bit in geometry or trig, then this text can be a great support to have by your side during your precalc class OR for self-study/review after precalc and before calculus.
Indeed, there are several circumstances in which this self-study text can be used.
1) If you are in precalculus and struggling and wondering what parts are really important for calculus next year/semester.
2) If you took precalculus last year/semester and want a study guide (besides your old textbook) to get ready for Calculus. Indeed, for high school students this may be a great summer book to work through after precalc to assure you're ready for Calculus.
3) If you took precalc many years ago and want a refresher, or even if you took Calculus 1 many years ago and want to review the prerequisites prior to refreshing your calculus.
There is a final chapter on Limits which will be covered in the start of Calculus 1 and which can probably be skipped. There is a stronger emphasis on "focus" and "foci" than in many precalc books so this may make some students think, "Why didn't my teacher cover this?" Also, there's a trig table... just remember the book was originally published in 1975 and so a couple of emphases are now slightly different but overall the value of the text remains high as a supplement.
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