Calculus for Dummies | 
| Author: Mark Ryan
Publisher: For Dummies
Category: Book
List Price: $19.99
Buy New: $7.00
You Save: $12.99 (65%)
New (58) Used (59) from $6.50
Avg. Customer Rating:  61 reviews
Sales Rank: 841
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 7.3 x 1.1
ISBN: 0764524984
Dewey Decimal Number: 515
UPC: 785555861855
EAN: 9780764524981
ASIN: 0764524984
Publication Date: May 1, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The mere thought of having to take a required calculus course is enough to make legions of students break out in a cold sweat. Others who have no intention of ever studying the subject have this notion that calculus is impossibly difficult unless you happen to be a direct descendant of Einstein. Well, the good news is that you can master calculus. It's not nearly as tough as its mystique would lead you to think. Much of calculus is really just very advanced algebra, geometry, and trig. It builds upon and is a logical extension of those subjects. If you can do algebra, geometry, and trig, you can do calculus. Calculus For Dummies is intended for three groups of readers: - Students taking their first calculus course–If you're enrolled in a calculus course and you find your textbook less than crystal clear, this is the book for you. It covers the most important topics in the first year of calculus: differentiation, integration, and infinite series.
- Students who need to brush up on their calculus to prepare for other studies–If you've had elementary calculus, but it's been a couple of years and you want to review the concepts to prepare for, say, some graduate program, Calculus For Dummies will give you a thorough, no-nonsense refresher course.
- Adults of all ages who'd like a good introduction to the subject–Non-student readers will find the book's exposition clear and accessible. Calculus For Dummies takes calculus out of the ivory tower and brings it down to earth.
This is a user-friendly math book. Whenever possible, the author explains the calculus concepts by showing you connections between the calculus ideas and easier ideas from algebra and geometry. Then, you'll see how the calculus concepts work in concrete examples. All explanations are in plain English, not math-speak. Calculus For Dummies covers the following topics and more: - Real-world examples of calculus
- The two big ideas of calculus: differentiation and integration
- Why calculus works
- Pre-algebra and algebra review
- Common functions and their graphs
- Limits and continuity
- Integration and approximating area
- Sequences and series
Don't buy the misconception. Sure calculus is difficult–but it's manageable, doable. You made it through algebra, geometry, and trigonometry. Well, calculus just picks up where they leave off–it's simply the next step in a logical progression.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 56 more reviews...
 Excellent for the non-math type of person August 30, 2008
My back-ground: 30+ year old with a BA in Philosophy currently studying comp engineering. The author writes this book for the non mathematician. Explanations of concepts are in plain english. What separates this book from the instructions in a typical text book is the clarity in which the author explains the PURPOSE of each technique and concept. For a non-math type reading the intro to a chapter in a typical text book it is easy to not follow the intent of the concepts involved. Therefore the rest of the chapter seems as if you're just doing more and more complex things, that you do not understand, with functions that have no meaning to you. Without understanding why you are doing what you are doing you will have trouble with the topics in calculus. An example is improper integrals. Without getting to a calculus lesson here if you do not understand what makes an integral improper then you will have trouble solving problems involving them. In general, text books use formal proofs to explain what an improper integral is and how to solve them. This is the case for all concepts in calculus text books. Proofs to show a problem, proofs to show a solution. In C4D the explanations are in simple english with clear descriptions for each step.
The only short comings of the book is that is does not contain problems to practice and it does not offer a very large cache of algebra tricks need for success. I did not find the lack of practice problems to be a serious drawback as practice problems are available from a number of other places e.g. text books, study guides, internet etc... Adding a section on algebra tips and tricks would have made this the best book ever but it is not fair to criticize this book for not having them as no book I have seen has one.
This book is definitely valuable to someone in need of calculus who is not very strong in math.
1) Clearly written explanations instead of mathematical proofs.
2) Tips for remembering how to use the ***load of calculus techniques.
3) Concise cheat-sheet (recommend memorizing it).
4) Covers Calc 1 and much of Calc 2.
5) Helpful in understanding concepts as textbooks (and far too many professors) fail at this.
"Dummies" has done it again. July 23, 2008
This is as good as the other "Dummies" books. A good resource or instructional book. Either way, a winner.
Great book for reducing math anxiety July 6, 2008
I feel like I owe a lot to this book and Mark Ryan. I originally purchased this book two years ago when I ended my enlistment in the Marines. Needless to say, after being out of school for almost six years I had some trepidation about starting college, and especially my math courses (because, let's face it...as much as I love my fellow-Belleau woodsman, Marines don't typically have a reputation for their intellectual prowess). This book, along with it's accompanied workbook, became invaluable to me as a supplement to my calculus textbooks in college. The biggest benefit is that Ryan can explain the concepts in clear, everyday language, unlike most math texts. I ended my Calculus I course with one of the highest grades in the class. I am now a junior in college on my way to finishing my engineering degree, and this book definately helped establish a solid mathematical foundation and gave me a needed academic confidence boost.
 Superb as a supplemental book, but nearly worthless as a primary text. June 29, 2008
I taught my first calculus class over a quarter of a century ago. As always seems to be the case, the thought of having to take calculus had the members of the class nervous. To most it is a daunting task, yet the fundamentals of what is covered in differential and integral calculus are intuitive. Concepts such as continuity, limits, differentiability as the slope of the tangent line and integration as the limit of a sum are all ideas well within the grasp of nearly everyone.
The devil and fear is of course in the details, how to take these principles and apply them to problems. There have been many times when I have had a student tell me, " I understand the fundamental concept, that is easy to follow." However, when it comes time to do something like an epsilon-delta proof of continuity or understand the proof of the fundamental theorem of calculus, the student will say, "I don't know what to do."
In my opinion, that is what will happen to most of the people with no calculus background who read this book. They will understand the fundamental principles and hit a wall when they try to apply them. Knowledge of the fundamentals of precalculus is a necessity, without that, it is unlikely that even the intuitive concepts will make sense.
To paraphrase Euclid, "There is no easy road to calculus." It requires a great deal of thought, study and the acquisition of mathematical skill. Many people, myself included, believe that you really don't begin to understand it until a year after you complete the calculus courses.
Therefore, in my opinion, very few beginners will be able to acquire a great deal of calculus knowledge from this book. Even though I concede that the coverage is broad and the approach is at an understandable level. Learning calculus is a mind-broadening experience, yet it is no simple task. Memorization is pointless; the light bulbs must eventually go off in your mind. I don't see how reading any book without exercises can make that happen. I consider it superb as a supplemental book, but nearly worthless as a primary text.
Excellent results May 27, 2008
I've always had issues truly retaining mathematical concepts. So naturally, when faced with having to take college calculus, I had mild reservations.
I purchased this book in January, before the spring semester started, and began tearing through the book, studying everything I could. As the semester progressed, all that my teacher was saying was crystal clear, and coincided perfectly with what this book was teaching.
By the end of the semester, I had not only dealt with calculus, but I actually appreciated the usefulness of it in everyday applications. This book is an absolute must for those who are timid when it comes to math. Want proof of it's success? I finished the class with a 97.5% - an A+!
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