Calculus: Early Transcendentals

It was a textbook that I needed. So much cheaper than buying it from my school. The shipping wasn't bad but just on time without Amazon Prime. Overall a useful book for the years to come. This book was used for three semesters (Calc. I, II, & III) in my university to completely go through it. It goes over the single variable textbook and much more, since it is MULTIVARIABLE edition. The book is layout in a easy way to read, with example many problems that help so much. There are plenty of practice problems but they are only useful to do if your professor uses similar problem wording. Honestly, my professor used completely differing wording on his test but he taught word for word from the book. If you don't need it for the rest of your life for your major or something, buy an e-book on "ebooks.bfwpub.com" for a specific limited access. It has graded practice problems and makes it easier to find and read the book anywhere with internet, rather than lugging the heavy book. (The book is thick and heavy, but useful and thorough.)

I have been very pleased with this textbook. I didn't realize that textbooks could actually be helpful until I started using this text. The chapters are set up with a format the clearly highlights and summarizes important formulas and theorems. Additionally, I find the examples to helpful and constructive to my learning experience. As an engineer, I am most concerned with practical applications of math so I cannot speak as well to whether or not this book sufficiently teaches the theory behind the math but I have found it's content satisfactory in both the theoretical and practical sides of calculus.

So I was doing my homework with my Cal tutor and he went to turn to a page that was suppose to have an example demonstrating how work out the problem. Only thing was the page was not there! Like it wasn't ripped out or anything like that but I guess they just skipped some pages when they printed this copy of the book.Everyone else in my class who got their book from the bookstore had the example page in their book.I double checked to make sure I had the right edition and everything which I did. Its weird cause other than that I haven't had any other problems would the book, the homework questions match up and everything but it kind of leaves me wondering what other pages I could possibly be missing since we are only on chapter 2 at the moment

This has been a great book so far, while on it's own I'm not sure I would be doing as well as I am in class but it pairs well with my instructor.

When I ordered this book the description rated it "Good, with some highlighting or writing". I was expecting a slightly beat up text book as this is a used book, but WOW it was basically spotless when I got it. The only visible wear and tear is at the corners where they're slightly bent, but otherwise this could pass as a totally new book! In its condition, this book probably would have been $200 in my school bookstore but I got it here for only $71.95. It also came in the mail sooner than expected so that was also a bonus! :D

There are always gripes about splendid calculus books. I bought this one because I found homework assignments for it online, for a Rutgers course called Calculus for Scientists and Engineers. That is my speed because I majored in math nearly 50 years ago, became otherwise employed, and eveentually forgot my math. If you have problems with this book, then either you are not up to its challenges and need a lesser book,or your teacher's presentation of it doesn't support your needs.

The Positives: The problems in the text book are pretty well organized. Some problems just focus on the mechanics to give you practice applying a typical calculation, such as finding the derivative of a curve. Other problems focus more on conceptual understanding (which I like). The problems scale in difficulty as you complete the chapter exercises. Another plus. The Negatives: (why I gave 1 star) The author seems to have forgotten that the people reading this book are in college and are learning this information. Many are seeing it for the first time. Most college courses are taught by a TA and are about 50 minutes a few days a week. So the TA does not have the luxury of expanding and spending 20 minutes to explain one idea. So we are reliant on our text book for that. Unfortunately, the author provides the simplest of examples, skips lots of steps while arriving at the answer, and doesn't really walk you through the problem-solving approach required. So you see this simple example, which after going through a few times you can understand, then you are turned to the chapter exercises. The exercises ramp up instantly in difficulty and you are left struggling to solve the problems. The odd problems are usually completely different than the evens, so you can't even look at one of the odds for guidance. If you are lucky to find one that might help you solve a problem, you turn to the back of the book to find you only have the answer and not the solution. I am aware a solution manual exists, but even that is questionable and incomplete.

seems long time no use smelly