The Humongous Book of Calculus Problems: For People Who Don't Speak Math | 
| Author: W. Michael Kelley
Publisher: Alpha
Category: Book
List Price: $18.95
Buy New: $10.97
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New (39) Used (14) from $10.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  22 reviews
Sales Rank: 30030
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 576
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.5
Dimensions (in): 10.6 x 8.4 x 1.4
ISBN: 1592575129
Dewey Decimal Number: 515.076
EAN: 9781592575121
ASIN: 1592575129
Publication Date: January 2, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Now students have nothing to fear Math textbooks can be as baffling as the subject theyre teaching. Not anymore. The best-selling author of The Complete Idiots Guide to Calculus has taken what appears to be a typical calculus workbook, chock full of solved calculus problems, and made legible notes in the margins, adding missing steps and simplifying solutions. Finally, everything is made perfectly clear. Students will be prepared to solve those obscure problems that were never discussed in class but always seem to find their way onto exams. --Includes 1,000 problems with comprehensive solutions
--Annotated notes throughout the text clarify whats being asked in each problem and fill in missing steps
--Kelley is a former award-winning calculus teacher
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| Customer Reviews: Read 17 more reviews...
 Excellent book November 21, 2008
I bought this book to prep me for a Calc class that I was going to take for college. I do believe that this book is an excellent resource for the self study student. It is very easy to follow and seems to progress you though many complex operations at a fairly quick pace. I believe that this book would be perfect if it gave you a page of practice problems and answers at the end of each chapter. Because the extra practice problems are missing, I would suggest using this in conjunction with the James Stewart text. Otherwise, I am very happy with the purchase of this text.
 Fabulous November 16, 2008
I have always wanted to be a mathematician, and have decided to do it. I need to learn Calculus well (Calc I-III), so that I can go on for a masters in math program. This book covers Calc I and II. Of course before you open to page 1, you must know algebra and trig well. So take a few weeks to do that. Then, you should get this authors Idiots Guide to Calc, and go thru it. If you are good with your alg and trig, you can get thru that book. Then, the next step is this "Humongous" Book. I am now half way through it. Ive taken it slow so that I can process everything. I feel pretty good about it, but now I am going back through the first half all over to solidify. Then its on to the second half over the winter, and by Spring I will have a good foundation in Calc I and II, and be ready to move on to III. Calc in and of itself is not hard------its the algebra and trig you have to know well. This brings me to my final point------Michael Kelley does a great job of stripping away the gobbledygook and delivering you the nuts and bolts of calculus ON PAR with the "hardcore texts". There are many of those "hardcore" books, and they just dont teach well. What this author has done is to teach you how to solve the problems as well as the underlying logic. Believe me, this book is great. If you see it, open it up and read the introduction------if you buy it and work it, you will be saying its a home run too.
Nice source for pre- and calculus problems with full solutions; use along with traditional text to clarify key concepts. October 29, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The subtitle of this book, "Translated for People Who Don't Speak Math" is a mild bit of exaggeration, that hopefully, won't establish unreasonable reader expectations. That aside, this book provides an excellent selection of examples through a fairly comprehensive set of problem statements.
Although the book is quite large, the outer text margins are also fairly large, about 2 1/4". This allowed the author and publisher to include pencil looking marginal annotations inside cartoon like balloon clouds. These annotations are quite helpful and provide additional explanations to problems where required. The wide margins mean that as far as content this 565 page book is probably equivalent to a 400 page book with normal margins. Thus, it should be considered a bit less intimidating than its page count might imply.
The book assumes readers remember concepts from algebra, and geometry, e.g., recalling that slopes of perpendicular lines are negative reciprocals of each other, etc. However, if the reader does not recall a concept while trying to solve a problem the concept is often, although not always, discussed in the problem solution.
Considering the relatively large number of problems there are fewer than expected errors. Owing to the detailed presentation of solutions most of the errors are obvious, as when in problem 3.1 the author inexplicably and incorrectly changes a negative sign in the problem statement to a positive one in the solution.
The author generally provides clear and extended solutions to problems, i.e., not just answers but the solution steps leading to the answers. Sometimes the author's choice of a solution approach is, arguably, not the most appropriate.
For example, in the presentation of polynomial long division, the author chooses to reverse the signs of the multiplied terms and add at each phase. The more common approach is to leave the signs as multiplied and then subtract at each stage. The author's approach works. However, the advantage of using the more typical approach is that the immediate connection to synthetic division becomes more readily apparent.
"By route" solutions are helpful to students concerned primarily with mathematical manipulation. However, taking slightly more time to consider a problem carefully before simply applying one of the provided solution exemplars may reduce overall solution time and the chance for errors. It may also help improve and solidify understanding.
For example, in problem 1.9 the author uses the formula sqrt [(x2-x1)^2 + (y2-y1)^2] to find the length of line segments, two of which are horizontal. Obviously, for horizontal line segments just subtracting the x - coordinates of their endpoints, (x2-x1) would work. Using a more complex formula when simple subtraction would do is clearly more error prone.
The use of a problems only approach to present mathematical concepts has some limits, no calculus pun intended. Specifically, this book helps to develop problems solving skills. It is not a substitute for a more traditional calculus concepts book, but a nice supplement. Concepts are presented in the context of problems which often leaves off key issues important to deeper understanding that may prove critical for later work. For example, in the presentation on polynomial division just discussed, the remainder theorem, and it important consequence the factor theorem, are omitted. These easy to understand and insightful theorems, which can help solve certain types of problems, and confirm the validity of certain polynomial divisions, were not needed for any of the problems presented, and thus were not included. Whereas, they often are included in a more traditional pre-calculus review.
The book devotes eight chapters, over 120 pages, to review material before getting to the concepts of calculus. This review covers topics in: Linear Equations and Inequalities, Polynomials, Rational Expressions, Functions, Logarithmic and Exponential Functions, Conic Sections, and Trigonometry (two chapters). Each Chapter of the reviews is divided into 'bite-sized' sections with, usually, between a half-dozen or more problems per section. Problems are clearly stated, often with accompanying illustrations, and solutions are thoroughly discussed with solution steps well presented.
The review is followed by problems on limits and continuity, then differentiation, and integration. The book closes with problems on differential equations, sequences and series.
I kept track of the time to complete all exercises in some sections. Based on those results, readers should be able to complete all problems in the book within two months, working at a comfortably relaxed pace. With a more devoted effort, a considerably shorter completion time is possible, as the material is presented in easy "chunks", and the exercises are quite reinforcing, so there is no requirement for a break to let the concepts "sink in".
This is a pure, as opposed to applied, mathematics text. Thus, readers whose interests include the application of mathematics, will need to supplement the problems in this book with more application-oriented works. This is probably best done concurrently, i.e., while using this text, so the concepts learned here can be understood in the context of the reader's application areas of interest.
This is a book that can be highly recommended to those looking for reinforcement, review, or more experience solving calculus problems. However, those seeking a deeper understanding of underlying concepts, or examples and problem sets showing the use of calculus to specific applications will need to augment this work with additional materials.
Lost? Confused? Need help? This is the book for you!~ October 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I am no sales representative but an average student who has never taken calculus before and was lost when I had to take it for college. See I have a professor who expects students to know everything and won't go at a pace or stop to explain and skims through it like we're geniuses.
This book doesn't do that and in fact it explains EVERY LITTLE THING for you. It's also fun and entertaining and doesn't really make you feel dumb for not understanding it. I absolutely love this book and I had bought this book earlier, but had not expected it to be any good until I opened it 3 days before my midterm. Every thing I had not understand or comprehend was understood after reading through the explanation.
If you're a student who feels weak in maths and/or is lost and confuse. Seek help from this book. You definitely won't regret it.
Good for what it is September 8, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I'm going back to school after a long time away. I'd never taken calculus in my first time through undergrad and graduate school so I was nervous about taking it the first time.
This book is handy in that it explains, in pretty simply language, what's going on in a certain step, especially in those steps were people most often say, "Huh? Where did *that* come from?"
If you're looking for a book that gives you the same basic problem asked for in many different ways, this isn't the book. Go for Schaum's or Problem Solver by REA. But this book might help you figure out exactly what you're missing if you're working your way through a million Schaum's questions and find yourself stuck.
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