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[ReviewedbyVictorReinerandAlbertSchueller,on08/27/2011]
Thisopensourcecalculustextbookcoversbothsingleandmultivariablecalculus.Thebookcarriesa CreativeCommonsAttributionNonCommercialShareAlikelicense,whichmeansitisfreely redistributableandthatothersarefreetoeditthetextfortheirownpurposes.Betweenthetwoofus,we havetaughtbothsingleandmultivariablecalculuscoursesusingitandfindittobeawellwrittenand completetextbook.Thisisallthemoreremarkablesinceitisentirelyfreetouse. ThoughhardcopiesareavailableatcostfromtheondemandpublishingsiteLulu.com,theelectronic versionofthetext(inpdfformat)isfreeandisarealpleasuretouse.Thechaptersandsectionsareall indexedinthepdfforeaseofnavigation.Inaddition,allreferencestofigures,theorems,examples,and exercisesareinternallyhyperlinked,leadingthereaderdirectlytoreferencedinformationwiththeclickof amouse.AnotheradvantageoftheelectronicversionofthebookistheinclusionofJavaandSage basedfiguresthattheinterestedreadercanviewandmanipulate.Thisfeatureisparticularlyvaluablein themultivariablechaptersofthetext. Theorderingandtreatmentofsinglevariablecalculusisquitestandardandtraditional.Itbeginswitha chapterreviewingprecalculus/analyticgeometry.Afterthis,itdoesdifferentialcalculus,proceeding throughlimits,derivatives,transcendentalfunctions,andstandardapplicationsofderivatives(finding extrema,relatedrates,linearapproximations,Newtonsmethod).Itthenstartsintegralcalculus, covering,inorder,integrationandthefundamentaltheoremsofcalculus,methodsofintegration,and standardapplicationsofintegration(area,volume,arclength,surfacearea,work,averagevalue,center ofmass,probability).Thisisfollowedbyachapteronpolarcoordinatesandparametricequations, includinghowtodocalculus(slopes/areas)withthem.Lastcomesachapteronsequencesandseries, treatingtheusualtopicsandleadinguptoTaylorsTheoremwithremainder. Therewereafewsinglevariabletopicsthatthetextomittedortreatedverylightlyintheversion reviewedhere.Morerecently,however,someofthosehavebeenincorporatedintothecurrentversion ofthebook,e.g.,thesectionondifferentialequationshasbeenexpanded,andmovedtoalaterchapter.
Asanotherexample,thebookdoesnotdiscussatallnumericalintegrationmethodssuchasmidpoint, trapezoidal,orSimpsonsrule.However,giventheevolutionofthetextsofar,wewouldnotbe surprisediftheauthorweretointroducesuchasectionuponrequestofinstructors. Thearcofthemultivariablecalculussectionsisalsofairlytraditional.Itstartswithanintroductionto vectors,lines,andplanes,movesontovectorvaluedfunctionsandtheirderivatives,thentofunctions ofseveralvariablesandpartialderivatives,thentomultipleintegration,andfinisheswithGreens, Stokes,andthedivergencetheorems.Thenarrativecontentiswellsupportedwithconcisefiguresand displayedequationsandidentities.Thetextisalsogoodatpresentingthebigideaswithoutgetting mireddowninprocess. Thediscussionsandexplanationsaresuccinctandtothepoint,inawaythatpleasesmathematicians whodontlikecalculusbookstogoonandon.Thisallowstheinstructorflexibilitytochoosewhich technicalpointstoexpandon,withoutdistractingthestudent.Itmaybeperceivedasadisadvantagefor instructorswhowantabookthatadjudicateseverytechnicalpointinadvance.Asectionthatwefound admirableinitsconcisionisSection2.5Adjectivesforfunctions.Thissectiondiscussesnotionssuch ascontinuityanddifferentiability(atapoint,andonaninterval)verybriefly,leavingtheinstructor freedomtosaymore,ifdesired,aboutissuesofendpoints,righthandedandlefthandedcontinuity,etc. Studentfeedbackrevealsthattherearealsomanystudentswhoenjoythissortofbrevity,butothers whowantmorediscussion,andinparticular,moreexamples. Althoughthebookdoesntprovideasmanyexamplesasatypicalthickertextanddoesntcontainas manyexercisesattheendofeachsectionasmostcalculustexts,itstillmanagestofitthebillinthe followingways.Thesinglevariablesectionswhereonedesperatelywantsahugeselectionofproblems, namelymaxminsandrelatedrates,areexactlythetwosectionsthatdeviatefromtherestbyhavinga largeselectionofexercisesmorethanenough.Intherestofthebook,wefoundthattherewerealso usuallyjustenoughproblemstochoosefromadequately.Althoughsomestudentswillwanttowork moreexercises,thisiseasilyremediedbysuggestingthatthestudentsbuyanyofthemany inexpensiveandreadilyavailablecalculusexercisebooks. Thebookdoesnotincludethefrillofhistoricaldiscussions.Thisseemsconsistentwiththeconcise andtersestylethatoriginallyattractedustothetext.Itsnotthatwedontenjoythenicehistorical discussionsthatonefindseitherinterspersedorintheappendicesofsomestandardcalculustextswe justdontenjoythemenoughtoinsistonhavingtheminthetextbook!Perhapsinfutureversions relevanthyperlinkstosomeofthemanyfinemathhistorywebsitescouldbeincludedatstrategic locationsthroughoutthetext. Thereisanoticeabletypographicissueinthebook:theauthorgivesimportant facts/rules/laws/definitionsaseithernumberedtheoremsordefinitions,e.g.,Theorem?.??or Definition?.??.Standardcalculustextsoftenhavethesametypeofinformationboxedorhighlightedin thecenterofalineforemphasisandtohelpreadersscanandreview.Somestudentsdocommenton this,andwefoundita(minor)disadvantageintheexposition.Anexampleofthisshortcomingcanbe foundinSection12.6OtherCoordinateSystems.Thesphericalcoordinatetransformationsappear onlyintherunningtextofanexample.Thismakesitdifficultforthestudenttoquicklyscanbackthrough thesectionandfindtheformulas.(Itshouldbenotedthattheplacementoftheseformulashasimproved inthecurrentversion,buttheyarestillnotasvisibleastheymightbe.) Arealstrengthofthebookistheauthorsadoptionofopensourcemethodstoincorporatechangesand materialsuggestedbyinstructorsthathaveusedthebook(theopensourcemodel).Typically,the authorupdatesthebookonceayearbasedonhisownideasandfeedbackreceivedfromothers throughouttheacademicyear. Thisisawellwritten,thoughtful,andcarefullyeditedcalculusbook.Itmaylackthebellsandwhistlesof morestandardtexts,butisstillquitecompetitive.Thisbookisproofthatsometimesyougetmuchmore
thanyoupayfor.
VictorReinerisaProfessorintheSchoolofMathematicsattheUniversityofMinnesota.Albert SchuellerisaprofessorinthemathematicsdepartmentatWhitmanCollegeinWallaWalla,WA.
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