Essential Calculus | 
 enlarge | Author: James Stewart
Publisher: Brooks Cole
Category: Book
List Price: $131.95
Buy Used: $49.95
You Save: $82.00 (62%)
New (20) Used (37) from $49.95
Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 493161
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 904
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.5
Dimensions (in): 10.1 x 8.1 x 1.2
ISBN: 0495014427
Dewey Decimal Number: 515
EAN: 9780495014423
Publication Date: March 21, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Clean unmarked pages, cover has moderate wear. Satisfaction Guaranteed - Immediate Shipping
| |
| Accessories:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
This book is a response to those instructors who feel that calculus textbooks are too big. In writing the book James Stewart asked himself: What is essential for a three-semester calculus course for scientists and engineers? Stewart's ESSENTIAL CALCULUS offers a concise approach to teaching calculus that focuses on major concepts and supports those concepts with precise definitions, patient explanations, and carefully graded problems. Essential Calculus is only 850 pages-two-thirds the size of Stewart's other calculus texts (CALCULUS, Fifth Edition and CALCULUS, EARLY TRANSCENDENTALS, Fifth Edition)-and yet it contains almost all of the same topics. The author achieved this relative brevity mainly by condensing the exposition and by putting some of the features on the website, www.StewartCalculus.com. Despite the reduced size of the book, there is still a modern flavor: Conceptual understanding and technology are not neglected, though they are not as prominent as in Stewart's other books. ESSENTIAL CALCULUS has been written with the same attention to detail, eye for innovation, and meticulous accuracy that have made Stewart's textbooks the best-selling calculus texts in the world.
|
| Customer Reviews:
 The right material is presented and removed. My choice for a calculus text June 13, 2006
Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States(cashbacher@yahoo.com))
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
When I received this book, my immediate reaction was one of joy and surprise. A textbook for differential and integral calculus that is less than 1000 pages is unheard of in the modern age. Then, I opened it to determine what the others have that this one does not.
*) There are not pages and pages of problems at the ends of the sections. When comparing other calculus books, it has appeared that there is some kind of arms race regarding the number of problems at the ends of the sections. Properly done, 20 -50 problems are enough, hence no loss.
*) There is little mention of a calculator or a symbolic mathematics program such as Mathematica. I applaud this because I don't use graphing calculators. Simple sketches are enough to grasp the ideas, so I don't miss this either.
*) The number of examples is reduced. It is impossible to anticipate all of the conceptual difficulties students will have, so any attempt to write an example for all possible scenarios is impossible. The role of instructors is to answer the questions textbook authors do not anticipate.
The coverage is that of the traditional calculus text, so there is no loss of fundamental content. I am not scheduled to teach introduction to calculus for some time, so at this time I have no need for this book. However, if I were teaching it next fall, this is the book that I would use.
book review October 2, 2008
Qingchuan Xia (New York, NY, USA)
when I got the book, I realized this is an old version, actually, I need the newest edition for my college math class. Luckily, the questions and sections do not change much, so that I can still use it.
well suited for science and engineering majors October 24, 2006
W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3)
Frankly, I'm not sure what significant differences Stewart has made, compared to his other books, as I've not encountered those. But considering this book as a standalone entity, then the material is skilfully presented. With ample examples that are thoroughly worked out. Plus, there is a plentitude of exercises that the reader is urged to tackle.
The rigour of the theorems is not at the level of Spivak or Apostol's texts on introductory calculus. But those are aimed at maths majors. Stewart's work is best suited for students going off to major in science or engineering. It lacks the epsilon-delta approach pioneered in the 19th century. But the infinitesimals viewpoint is perfectly adequate, and is probably more intuitive to many readers anyway.
WARNING - International edition different February 10, 2008
A. Charest
For my 2 students in college, I buy International editions of books to save money. This one is the same, but the problems at the end of each chapter are different, so she cannot use it in class.
 Poor September 25, 2006
Beatrice White (Scottsdale, Arizona)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Returning to school after many years' absence, the university required me to re-take calculus and other courses to prove that I could keep up. Having received an "A" in two calculus courses, a "B" in another, I re-started the series without too much worry. WRONG. This text does not explain fully, let alone in depth, any concept so far this semester. The few examples that are covered often do not match the problems presented at the end of the section. Thompson's claim of having taken material out of his text and put that material on his website is a joke at best. Skeletonized is the best word I can think of for both the text and the offerings on the web. Thank goodness I had a couple old texts laying around that offered clear, concise explainations of concepts and to-the-point examples.
Perhaps all of this could have been dealt with if the professor had presented examples of problems during class time or gone over the homework once it was returned. That is not his policy. His only suggestion was to go to the Engineering Tutoring Center and do my homework there. With four children and a husband at home, and a job, that was not an option.
So, all in all, I gave the book a 1. Maybe an E for Effort, but you can never have too many examples nor too many problems to practice on before an exam. Thompson's text left you wanting.
|
|
|
