15 ms·

The best Calculus book I've ever found is free from MIT. https://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-18-001-calculus-online-textbook-spring-2005/textbook/ https://ocw.mi

The best Calculus book I've ever found is free from MIT. https://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-18-001-calculus-online-textbook-spring-2005/textbook/ https://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-18-001-calculus-online-tex...

Bluestrike2 10y ago
Adrian Banner's The Calculus Lifesaver is an excellent companion text as well. It's not really a textbook, but it's a great reference to help you alongside it that's written in a way meant to be accessible to introductory students. http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8351.html http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8351.html
- grawlinson 10y ago
  Adding to this thread, Paul Dawkin's online notes really helped me get through Calc 1-3. There's also notes for basic algebra & differential equations. http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/ http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/
- geoffreyiy1 10y ago
  Made account to reply: I got this book at a used bookstore for $10 as my first calculus book, I read the entire thing over a week long vacation. It was sweeter than candy, I have not read a better non-fiction book in my entire (18 year old) life.
  - retro64 10y ago
    Welcome to HN! I feel hopeful when I see passionate comments like this from newly minted adults :)
hollander 10y ago
This may be the best book and it's great that you can download it for free, but it's scanned, and that makes it horrible to read. Still I marked it in my book list under math, and hope I'll find the time to read it in the future. I will buy a decent EPUB or PDF then. I don't mind to pay for that convenience.
- jrapdx3 10y ago
  Your comment prompted me to look at the contents of the online PDFs. They are scanned-in documents, but I didn't find the text too hard to read. To my surprise there were active links to sections of the book from the TOC. Certainly for the free price it's a generous thing to offer.
CalChris 10y ago
Stewart, Calculus, at a mere $285. Or like $5 for the fifth edition. He's very readable. Strang is a fine lecturer, especially his Linear Algebra videos. But Linear Algebra Done Right is much better than Strang. MIT, Stanford and Berkeley agree on this one thing. http://www.linear.axler.net/ http://www.linear.axler.net/ The abridged version sans proofs is available in PDF: http://linear.axler.net/LinearAbridged.pdf http://linear.axler.net/LinearAbridged.pdf
- tnecniv 10y ago
  I've read significant amounts of both, and I don't think Axler is better than Strang or vice versa. They teach the material with a different emphasis and interpretation.
- conjectures 10y ago
  Having read both, my vote is with Axler over Strang. It may be because I read Axler later, but I found it more intuitive and riper for generalisation.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
0x54MUR41 10y ago
Thank you for sharing this. I used calculus book that written by Mathematics department of my university. Beside that, I read Calculus book by Purcell et al. [1]. This book is a good choice for supplement and exercise. [1]: https://www.amazon.com/Calculus-Differential-Equations-Dale-Varberg/dp/0132306336 https://www.amazon.com/Calculus-Differential-Equations-Dale-...
wycx 10y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calculus_Made_Easy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calculus_Made_Easy
apricot 10y ago
Lang's "Short Calculus" (a reprint of the 1st edition of his calculus textbook) is a welcome change from those 2234th edition doorstop textbooks that make calculus into a boring parade of examples, where the goal of the game seems to be becoming an ace at pattern-matching. More recent, more idiosyncratic but quite nice is T.W. Körner's Calculus for the Ambitious. I could see a motivated high-schooler learn calculus from this.

Bluestrike2 10y ago

Adrian Banner's The Calculus Lifesaver is an excellent companion text as well. It's not really a textbook, but it's a great reference to help you alongside it that's written in a way meant to be accessible to introductory students. http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8351.html http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8351.html

grawlinson 10y ago
Adding to this thread, Paul Dawkin's online notes really helped me get through Calc 1-3. There's also notes for basic algebra & differential equations. http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/ http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/
geoffreyiy1 10y ago
Made account to reply: I got this book at a used bookstore for $10 as my first calculus book, I read the entire thing over a week long vacation. It was sweeter than candy, I have not read a better non-fiction book in my entire (18 year old) life.
- retro64 10y ago
  Welcome to HN! I feel hopeful when I see passionate comments like this from newly minted adults :)

hollander 10y ago

This may be the best book and it's great that you can download it for free, but it's scanned, and that makes it horrible to read. Still I marked it in my book list under math, and hope I'll find the time to read it in the future. I will buy a decent EPUB or PDF then. I don't mind to pay for that convenience.

jrapdx3 10y ago
Your comment prompted me to look at the contents of the online PDFs. They are scanned-in documents, but I didn't find the text too hard to read. To my surprise there were active links to sections of the book from the TOC. Certainly for the free price it's a generous thing to offer.

CalChris 10y ago

Stewart, Calculus, at a mere $285. Or like $5 for the fifth edition. He's very readable. Strang is a fine lecturer, especially his Linear Algebra videos. But Linear Algebra Done Right is much better than Strang. MIT, Stanford and Berkeley agree on this one thing. http://www.linear.axler.net/ http://www.linear.axler.net/ The abridged version sans proofs is available in PDF: http://linear.axler.net/LinearAbridged.pdf http://linear.axler.net/LinearAbridged.pdf

tnecniv 10y ago
I've read significant amounts of both, and I don't think Axler is better than Strang or vice versa. They teach the material with a different emphasis and interpretation.
conjectures 10y ago
Having read both, my vote is with Axler over Strang. It may be because I read Axler later, but I found it more intuitive and riper for generalisation.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

0x54MUR41 10y ago

Thank you for sharing this. I used calculus book that written by Mathematics department of my university. Beside that, I read Calculus book by Purcell et al. [1]. This book is a good choice for supplement and exercise. [1]: https://www.amazon.com/Calculus-Differential-Equations-Dale-Varberg/dp/0132306336 https://www.amazon.com/Calculus-Differential-Equations-Dale-...

wycx 10y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calculus_Made_Easy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calculus_Made_Easy

apricot 10y ago

Lang's "Short Calculus" (a reprint of the 1st edition of his calculus textbook) is a welcome change from those 2234th edition doorstop textbooks that make calculus into a boring parade of examples, where the goal of the game seems to be becoming an ace at pattern-matching. More recent, more idiosyncratic but quite nice is T.W. Körner's Calculus for the Ambitious. I could see a motivated high-schooler learn calculus from this.