Calculus, Volume I: One-Variable Calculus, with an Introduction to Linear Algebra

Tom M. Apostol0471000051, 9780471000051

Perhaps my love of this text is because I was one of those students who only wanted to know how to use a derivative or integral to solve a physical problem when I took my first calculus class in 1973. Years later when I was visiting MIT looking for economic texts, I came across Calculus by Apostol and after briefly skimming the index, decided to purchase it. It was three years later that I actually began studying the material in the text and honestly, I felt as though blinders had been removed from my eyes. From the opening chapters on step functions and integration, the material on diffferentiation and limits and proceeding into the topics of differential equations, sequences and series, complex numbers, differential equations and linear algebra, I was excited to be studying mathematics and finally understanding the material versus memorizing formulas. This text motivated me to purchase Apostol’s second and third books on multivariable calculus and analysis. Today I am studying Royden’s real Analysis text to prepare me for my next topic – probability. Is this book for everyone? Probably not. But if you ever felt that you had shortchanged yourself in college mathematics and are in a career where you can benefit from starting over and learning calculus the right way, I recommend the Apostol text. (And I firmly believe that all of us can benefit in our jobs from studying the logic of mathematics!)