Wei ji fen zhi tu long bao dao

by Colin Conrad Adams

Written by three gifted teachers, this book provides brief and highly readable explanations of the key topics of calculus without the technical details and fine print found in a formal text.

Genres: Mathematics, Nonfiction, Reference, Stem, Calculus, Science, Textbooks

Unknown Binding

First published July 15, 1998

Reviews

[Jen Hsieh · Rating 5 out of 5]

My father bought me this book when I was struggling with C's in Calculus while in high school. I managed to pull my grades up and went on to major in Economics and minor in Math in college. A wacky source of inspiration, but a total lifesaver.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this about 5-6 years ago when I was struggling with Calc II and III. Aside from helping me understand the concepts and pass the classes, I thought this book was absolutely hilarious. Mathemeticians with a sense of humor. Who knew?

[C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly standard. But sometimes the explanations are so insightful and intuitive that I hit my forehead in admiration. These few aha moments make the book worth reading.

[Titus · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s my opinion that the best way to be taught math is from a good teacher in “real time,” or as close as you can get it. I used this book before finding such brilliant YouTuber math teachers as, “Professor Leonard,” who goes in depth without wasting your time, or the easily digestible videos from “Organic Chemistry Tutor.” This book is fantastic, while the problems they are working out can lack some depth or difficulty, it really is wonderful book to get your feet wet.

[Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining. Some of the more advanced topics could have been covered in more detail.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is perhaps a bit of an unusual book for me to have purchased and read. I have never been in a calculus classroom in my life, let alone have any need of "acing" one.

How interesting, then, that I happened to have this book sitting on my shelves when I started the closest thing to an actual calculus class I'm likely to ever encounter: The Teaching Company's Change and Motion: Calculus Made Clear, a series of DVD lectures designed to teach the subject from the ground up.

The last time I took any math classes was over a decade ago and I never progressed beyond Algebra II in school (which I found to be the most awful drudgery on the face of the planet). So my skills were a little deficient for the needs of calculus. Thankfully, this book provided a handy checklist of things I should know before beginning. I took several weeks to get my pre-calculus skills up to par, and then plowed ahead.

I'm not sure if I would want to learn calculus from this book alone, but perhaps you could. However, as a companion to another course (such as The Teaching Company's), this makes an excellent printed reference to the main concepts. The jokes are hit-and-miss, as you'd expect, but I laughed out loud on several occasions. Most importantly, the explanations are lucid and complete.

As a reference, How to Ace is particularly good. A Just the Facts appendix at the end of the book lists not only concise rules for limits, derivatives, integrals, but even algebra, trigonometry, and graphing.

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The content is excellent. If you're looking for a 250 page summary of Calculus 1 (as we call it in the US) with a lot of great humor, this would be a good choice.

Overall though, it's not necessary. Especially if you're taking a calculus course and your professor is a good lecturer. Also, things like Khan Academy and YouTube, for the most part, render a late 90's era supplemental book obsolete.

[Benjamin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is fun and light-hearted. The second chapter, which talks about the social hierarchy in math departments, is painfully amusing.

my favorite quote: "Without calculus, economists could not make pinpoint accurate forecasts, and weather prediction would not be the impeccable science that we have grown to expect."

[Gandalf Saxe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish I'd had this in early high-school. From a learning point of view pretty pointless now, but it was good for inspiration on how to explain some of the topics as a tutor. This would definitely be my first choice if anyone asked me about a book for introducing calculus. And if I'd read this 10 years ago myself, I'd probably gotten 5 stars. Finally, the humor in this book is great!

[Amber]

In addition to being deliciously cheesy, this book does a nice job of putting math in context of the real world. Frequently answers that all-important question "why would I care?"

[Rosie · Rating 4 out of 5]

As good as a Calculus book can get ;)

[Reader2007 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is hilarious! Not only is it entertaining because of the many math jokes, but it also conveys complicated concepts clearly and simply. I wish that I had had this at the beginning of calc I!

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I wake up tomorrow as a 16-year-old high school calculus student I will kick all of your sorry asses, let me tell you. Really fuck up the curve.

[John Barbour · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let's put it this way, I got an A in Calculus. For that I am thankful. This book did help.

[emily Ying · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the most amazing science-category book I've ever read. It was like listening to the professor telling series of stories and you just learned math for no reason. Love it!

[Mark Bates · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice review...avoids proofs.