How to Ace Calculus: The Streetwise Guide - Softcover

Adams, Colin Conrad; Hass, Joel; Thompson, Abigail

4.15

172 ratings by Goodreads

9780716732877: How to Ace Calculus: The Streetwise Guide

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0716732874 ISBN 13: 9780716732877

Publisher: W H Freeman & Co (Sd), 1998

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Written by three gifted--and funny--teachers, How to Ace Calculus provides humorous and readable explanations of the key topics of calculus without the technical details and fine print that would be found in a more formal text. Capturing the tone of students exchanging ideas among themselves, this unique guide also explains how calculus is taught, how to get the best teachers, what to study, and what is likely to be on exams--all the tricks of the trade that will make learning the material of first-semester calculus a piece of cake. Funny, irreverent, and flexible, How to Ace Calculus shows why learning calculus can be not only a mind-expanding experience but also fantastic fun.

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Review:

"Imagine calculus is a solid old house built on good foundations. When the time comes to sell it to a new owner, a lick of brightly colored, cheery paint can do wonders. This is what Adams, Hass, and Thompson have done in "How to Ace Calculus.""--Keith Devlin, Dean, School of Science, St. Mary's College (CA), Senior Researcher, Stanford University, and author of "The Language of Mathematics"
"This is a marvelous, user-friendly introduction to the basic ideas of calculus. It is effective, humorous and eminently practical. The book that 100,000 calculus students have been searching for is finally here."--Ron Graham, Chief Scientist, AT&T Labs, former President of the American Mathematical Society, and author of "Concrete Mathematics: A Foundation of Computer Science"
"Can a calculus book be lighthearted and engaging? Surprisingly, yes, and here is one that does the job."--Thomas Banchoff, Professor of Mathematics, Brown University, President-Elect of the Mathematics Association of America, and author of "Beyond the Third Dimension"
"This book is dangerously clear, direct, and funny. It should be suppressed before it jeopardizes the time-tested function of the calculus sequence to befuddle and filter surplus students."--William Thurston, Professor of Mathematics, University of California at Davis, Fields Medalist, and former Director of the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute
"Comic opera meets college math in this amusing and edifying roller coaster of an introduction to calculus."--Ivars Peterson, author of" The Mathematical Tourist"

Imagine calculus is a solid old house built on good foundations. When the time comes to sell it to a new owner, a lick of brightly colored, cheery paint can do wonders. This is what Adams, Hass, and Thompson have done in "How to Ace Calculus." "Keith Devlin, Dean, School of Science, St. Mary's College (CA), Senior Researcher, Stanford University, and author of The Language of Mathematics"

This is a marvelous, user-friendly introduction to the basic ideas of calculus. It is effective, humorous and eminently practical. The book that 100,000 calculus students have been searching for is finally here. "Ron Graham, Chief Scientist, AT&T Labs, former President of the American Mathematical Society, and author of Concrete Mathematics: A Foundation of Computer Science"

Can a calculus book be lighthearted and engaging? Surprisingly, yes, and here is one that does the job. "Thomas Banchoff, Professor of Mathematics, Brown University, President-Elect of the Mathematics Association of America, and author of Beyond the Third Dimension"

This book is dangerously clear, direct, and funny. It should be suppressed before it jeopardizes the time-tested function of the calculus sequence to befuddle and filter surplus students. "William Thurston, Professor of Mathematics, University of California at Davis, Fields Medalist, and former Director of the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute"

Comic opera meets college math in this amusing and edifying roller coaster of an introduction to calculus. "Ivars Peterson, author of The Mathematical Tourist""

Imagine calculus is a solid old house built on good foundations. When the time comes to sell it to a new owner, a lick of brightly colored, cheery paint can do wonders. This is what Adams, Hass, and Thompson have done in How to Ace Calculus. Keith Devlin, Dean, School of Science, St. Mary's College (CA), Senior Researcher, Stanford University, and author of The Language of Mathematics

This is a marvelous, user-friendly introduction to the basic ideas of calculus. It is effective, humorous and eminently practical. The book that 100,000 calculus students have been searching for is finally here. Ron Graham, Chief Scientist, AT&T Labs, former President of the American Mathematical Society, and author of Concrete Mathematics: A Foundation of Computer Science

Can a calculus book be lighthearted and engaging? Surprisingly, yes, and here is one that does the job. Thomas Banchoff, Professor of Mathematics, Brown University, President-Elect of the Mathematics Association of America, and author of Beyond the Third Dimension

This book is dangerously clear, direct, and funny. It should be suppressed before it jeopardizes the time-tested function of the calculus sequence to befuddle and filter surplus students. William Thurston, Professor of Mathematics, University of California at Davis, Fields Medalist, and former Director of the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute

Comic opera meets college math in this amusing and edifying roller coaster of an introduction to calculus. Ivars Peterson, author of The Mathematical Tourist

"This is a marvelous, user-friendly introduction to the basic ideas of calculus. It is effective, humorous and eminently practical. The book that 100,000 calculus students have been searching for is finally here." --Ron Graham, Chief Scientist, AT&T Labs, former President of the American Mathematical Society, and author of Concrete Mathematics: A Foundation of Computer Science

"Can a calculus book be lighthearted and engaging? Surprisingly, yes, and here is one that does the job." --Thomas Banchoff, Professor of Mathematics, Brown University, President-Elect of the Mathematics Association of America, and author of Beyond the Third Dimension

"This book is dangerously clear, direct, and funny. It should be suppressed before it jeopardizes the time-tested function of the calculus sequence to befuddle and filter surplus students." --William Thurston, Professor of Mathematics, University of California at Davis, Fields Medalist, and former Director of the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute

"Comic opera meets college math in this amusing and edifying roller coaster of an introduction to calculus." --Ivars Peterson, author of The Mathematical Tourist

From the Author:

Why we wrote this book
There has been a terrible problem with calculus for a long time. Students struggle with it, the way children struggle to remove the child-proof top on the chewable vitamins bottle. At some schools, close to a third of the students who take calculus, fail it.

One day at lunch, four years ago, at a Chinese restaurant that none of us would particularly recommend,the three of us were sitting around talking about this problem, and one of us said,"You know, what's needed is a streetwise guide to calculus. Nobody is telling the students the secrets for getting through calculus. The textbooks weigh more than a medium-sized dog, and they are much too technical. Students don't read them. They only use the examples and the exercises."

Another one of us said,"Yes that's right. What's needed is a supplementary book that really explains all the ins-and-outs, how to pick professors, how to prepare for the exams, how to ace the course." The juice was flowing now. Or it may have been Coke, I don't even remember who spilled it.

And the third of us said, "Yes, but it's got to be funny, you know, tongue-in-cheek, irreverent, silly from cover-to-cover, so if someone starts to read a page or two, they get sucked right in, and when they look up, they've read three chapters and learned a whole dumpster's worth of calculus."

"Yes," the first said, "Too bad it's not out there." Then we went back to our kung pao chicken.

But eventually, the mosquito of inspiration did alight on our collective shoulder, and began to suck us dry. Here is the result. This book has the stuff we wish we had known when we took calculus. It contains all the secrets, the memory devices and the actual material for a semester's worth of calculus. And it costs less than lunch for three at a Chinese restaurant.

Anyway, good luck with the calculus, whether you end up getting the book or not...

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