The Cartoon Introduction to Calculus

by Grady Klein, Yoram Bauman

The internationally bestselling authors of The Cartoon Introduction to Economics return to make calculus fun

The award-winning illustrator Grady Klein has teamed up once again with the world's only stand-up economist, Yoram Bauman, Ph.D., to take on the daunting subject of calculus. A supplement to traditional textbooks, The Cartoon Introduction to Calculus focuses on the big ideas rather than all the formulas you have to memorize.

With Klein and Bauman as our guides, we scale the dual peaks of Mount Derivative and Mount Integral, and from their summits, we see how calculus relates to the rest of mathematics. Beginning with the problems of speed and area, Klein and Bauman show how the discipline is unified by a fundamental theorem. We meet geniuses like Archimedes, Liu Hui, and Bonaventura Cavalieri, who survived the slopes on intuition but prepared us for the avalanche-like dangers posed by mathematical rigor. Then we trek onward and scramble through limits and extreme values, optimization and integration, and learn how calculus can be applied to economics, physics, and so much more. We discover that calculus isn't the pinnacle of mathematics after all, but its tools are foundational to everything that follows. Klein and Bauman round out the book with a handy glossary of symbols and terms, so you don't have to worry about mixing up constants and constraints. With a witty and engaging narrative full of jokes and insights, The Cartoon Introduction to Calculus is an essential primer for students or for anyone who is curious about math.

Genres: Mathematics, Nonfiction, Science, Graphic Novels

224 pages, Paperback

Published July 16, 2019

Reviews

[Taylor Rudie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book for Calc 1 students who need to understand the content but don’t really like math and aren’t pursuing a future in mathematics. You learn all the necessary tools, definitions, and concepts to do calculus and it’s not a pain to read like a textbook can be.

I think the book would work really well as supplementary reading in a calc course, or just for fun if you’re a math person like me 😊 I’m excited to buy the one about Economics!

[Mark Ricard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good introduction to Calculus. It focuses on the basic principles and some applications in physics and economics instead of calculations and accuracy. This is not mean to be a textbook but a book for novices. And it works very at explaining the basic concepts of the subject.

[Laura Housley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned what “Chekhov’s gun” is.
Very clever book pedagogically. Awesome analogies. Thank you!

[Phoebe Wiersema · Rating 5 out of 5]

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this in Sherman's in Bar Harbor. I had seen a similar book by the same authors on Statistics that I didn't like much, but this is brilliant. In my limited experience, Calculus was a collection of techniques that I memorized in order to solve a bunch of changing rate story problems in the classes that I took as an undergraduate, but would suddenly change into something similar but different when I used it in Physics or in Statistics. This book concentrates on the underlying concepts of Calculus using cartoons. It has an historical perspective, including both Newton and Leibnitz as characters, and it includes enough explanation of technique so that it ties everything to my experience. I wish I had it 50 years ago.

[Dori · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure exactly who this book was written for. Some parts were fun and made me think about calculus in a new way, but for the most part it was boring. But if you didn't already know calculus, I think it would just be confusing - the pages were very cluttered with jokes that would only make sense if you'd already taken calc 1.
Nice idea, bad execution

[Kimberly Hallahan · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a clever explanation of Calculus! This book keeps the reader laughing, and provides several wonderfully-intuitive elucidations of key concepts.

I chuckled with delight every time I read, "Chop it up into little bits....and add them all up!" Pages 46-47 show an awesome way to describe the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus (Part 1), pages 51-51 portray this concept graphically so that it makes natural sense, and page 165 provides a great intuitive sense of the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus (Part 2).

On pages 48-49, the imagery for getting from relatively easy derivatives to relatively difficult integrals is awesome, effectively cementing the concept in a visceral way.

The intuition for the Product Rule on page 91 is magnificent. "Disaster Strikes!" on pages 138-139 is clever.

As a teacher of calculus, I greatly appreciate this book's lighthearted approach, its clever intuitive insights, and its summarization of basic Derivative and Integral Calculus in a 207-page graphic novel. I think this would be a terrific book for students of Calculus to read along with their assigned text.

[Hariharan Ragunathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading the Cartoon introduction to Statistics I picked up this book by Grady Klein. This book does not cover how to solve a differential equation or methods in an integral calculus. But if you were looking to know the conceptual introduction of why did calculus is important and how does differential and integral calculus are related and its their relevance in various fields of application like economics, physics, astronomy etc. are very well illustrated by Grady's cartoon. Good read and probably a must for kids who would do calculus in high school to first read this.Why 3 stars - if you don't know anything about calculus would you still enjoy reading this book? I doubt it. If you read the basic calculus in school and end of the year you just read this book you would relate to lot of these concept explained very well. I doubt this is purely a layman reading book. Probably the area is also like that unlike statistics.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

For years, I’ve felt disappointed in myself for having learned about calculus in high school and then almost immediately having forgotten it. A full refresher course always seemed like too much work. In 3 days, this cartoon guide has wiped away the guilt that clung to me for decades and left me understanding why calculus was invented in the first place. Hallelujah. And God help me, it left me wanting to learn more.

[Elizabeth]

Hoping to learn how to do calculus? Not your book.
Taking an AP Calculus or Introductory Calculus course? Good for an overview and sense of history.
Math geek? A quick and fun romp. Obviously written by an economist.
Anyone else? Let me know what you think.

[michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably more helpful for someone that already is familiar with calculus than a true intro. I enjoyed the artwork and examples.

[Sara Burriesci · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, easy review of the basics.

[Cynthia Prosser · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wish I had had this book back in college when I was taking calculus - if would have helped to explain the concepts and the what or why of the problems we were doing.

[♡May ♡]

I actually can’t believe that my first books of the year are going to be these two (one left about economy). I guess studying for exams helps ahahahah

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good review and would be great start for anyone learning the basics of calculus.

[Edmond · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picked up this book to brush up on calculus and the book is written more as a comic but not comprehensible.

[Ricardo Moreira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Forma divertida de reavivar a minha memória para estas matérias.
Aconselho a quem queira rever cálculo ou a quem esteja actualmente a estudar esta matéria.

[Carl · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun book that sets out to explain the principles of calculus by means of cartoons & accomplishes its objective! Easy to understand & very well done.