Calculus: Early Transcendentals (2nd Edition)

This book is pretty descent. The only reason that I bought it was for a class and the teacher said he'd use another book of the University let him but that this one was "ok. It is not good or bad, but mediocre."

I purchased this thinking it was going to come in the shrink wrapped package like every other copy does; it doesn't. This also means that they don't include the necessary mymathlab/Pearson access code that should come with every new book. Thus, it is a total rip off and it requires you to buy additional products making this by far and a way the most expensive option available. In addition to this, under options regarding the order, the store doesn't give me the option to voice these concerns to them; they only give me the option to voice this injustice publicly under the item review. Now I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place because I need both the book so I cannot return it, but I also need the access code that should have been included so I'm forced to cough up even more money to get the code. This will make me think twice about ever ordering another textbook from the store, shame on you.

This textbook is only the textbook! Do not order if you need the online access code, otherwise its a great price, and exactly what it says it is. I even got two of them because I thought they had made a mistake not sending me the online portion the first time. Both came in a timely manner and were exactly as described. Just not helpful to me since I only needed the online portion for homework.

This textbook is only the textbook! Do not order if you need the online access code, otherwise its a great price, and exactly what it says it is. I even got two of them because I thought they had made a mistake not sending me the online portion the first time. Both came in a timely manner and were exactly as described. Just not helpful to me since I only needed the online portion for homework.

Okay first a quick note about the "loose leaf binding": If you're going to buy any book that you are likely to keep as a reference just bite the bullet and buy the bound hard or soft cover. The same axiom applies if the book you're using is going to run through 2 or 3 classes (Calc I,II,III or Chem I,II,III for example) just go ahead and grab a bound book....its worth the money for ease of use and integrity of a real binding. The loose leaf versions are a bigger pain than they are worth in money saved. Enough digression.....

Regarding the book:
Very difficult to read. As in damn nigh impossible.

I'm retired military and used to reading technical documentation, and I realize this thing isn't supposed to be a work of literature. That said, basic teaching logic says that if you're going to try to introduce some of the more advanced concepts in mathematics, it would be wise to make some effort to make your text and the examples therein marginally readable. In this book, the student will have great difficulties with the nearly incomprehensible text long before they come to the point of actually being able to try to grasp a concept the book is trying to relate.

Poor and scant examples.

Examples within the text are minimal at best and often combine several steps in any given process into one. More and broader examples would be helpful, as would being consistent in showing most of the steps in a problem solution. A student is supposed to be pretty well versed in algebra and trig by the time the time he or she gets to a calculus class but when the authors glom half a dozen trig and algebra computations into one step in the middle of an already complex or difficult to understand calculation, its frustrating to have to stop dead, figure out what the hell just happened in that step of the example, then try to resume a train of thought in a complex problem.

Pathetic editorial of text and online content.

There were two final editors involved in the online content and homework for this book. This is obvious by the fact that one editor ensures problems are explained at a such level of detail that the level of detail itself becomes confusing. Then there's the other editor who combines half a dozen computational steps into one (must have been the text editor), with the term "Simplify" next to it. It may be true that the calculations performed were mostly simple algebraic steps (or not!), but slamming them all together in one step forces a student to once again have to stop and figure out what just happened, before being able to resume the real learning process. Moreover, the more esoteric the homework problem, the less likely there is to be an example available to assist the student. If there is an example, it oftentimes is different enough from the problem being worked that it is more likely to ADD to a students confusion than alleviate it. Online prompts when an incorrect answer is submitted are so generic that their only apparent function is to make you click a close button. Both the text and the online content have such enormous inconsistencies in problem solving methodology and example presentation that in the long run they serve as a great example of how not to teach calculus.

If you are going to try to learn calculus in class, find a class that uses a different text if you can. If not, seriously consider picking up the solutions manual for this text, you're likely to need it (I can only hope its edited better!!!).
If you are seeking self learning with this text, all you will learn is new heights in blood pressure and a greater command of expletives--find another text.
If you need a doorstop of fire starter for the kindling, you've found it in this text.

After working with this book for an entire year, I can say that it has grown on me. When I previously reviewed Briggs and Cochran's Calculus, I called it the worst mathematics text I had ever read. That is still the case, however I have learned a great deal from it and I should address the real issues I've had with it and those that have become background noise.

First the bad; the organisation and presentation of material is incredibly counter intuitive. These people could have done a world of good by hiring a talented editor with some experience in mathematics and page-layout skills. Instead, images are put in awkward places with unhelpful captions. The presentation of each section begins with theory and then examples, however the examples tend to only peripherally address issues you encounter with the problems.

A smaller issue, but one that certainly prevents it from being 4 stars, is how concepts are addressed. The theory sections tend to be truncated and geared toward providing a rigorous proof, but then often fall short of doing that. As an engineering student, I don't care one whit about the proofs. They're interesting, but I need to learn applications. A clearly worded explanation of how and why the theory works would have done wonders for me. It could be argued that this is an issue of the chosen direction for the book, and that's fine. In either case, I think a mathematics major would find it lacking in rigour and an engineering student finds it lacking in application.

The problem sets: if you don't have algebra, trig, and geometry down solid then you will be crushed. This book pulls no punches when it comes to demanding a basic understanding of all previous areas in order to pursue calculus. You can view this as a problem or a helpful hint about whether or not your education is up to this level of study. The problem sets address the issues of the section, but also toss around odd geometries and everything from algebra. If you don't have a solid grounding in trig, better get reading. You will not be able to do these problem sets without sufficient understanding of previous mathematics. The complete lack of 'basic' problems is terrible and discouraging for a beginner but creates a hardened mathematician for those who struggle through it. Personally I found the approach somewhat elitist and out-of-touch but, ultimately, rewarding.

Which brings us to the solutions manual. There is no excuse for this rag. Yes, it contains solutions. Some of them. It's only half of the books chapters, so watch out for that. It also gives next to no explanation for anything past the first several problems. Steps are skipped on the harder problems and no worded explanation is present. The entire book is on what feels like news print and the cover is matt blue with a shrunken image of the text's cover-image on it. It feels like an editor's proof copy--one that should have been rejected. It was helpful because the solutions in the back of the book are given in most reduced algebraic form (which is utterly useless most of the time), but I have never seen such a poor solution's manual.

What it does right:

online content. Matlab is very helpful for basic understanding of concepts, problem sets which are actually focused, and even videos concerning different approaches to the problems. Good luck getting your "no-technology!" math teacher to sign up for the service. I recommend pushing for it if you have a more amiable professor.

The theory sections around series and trig substitutions start to improve somewhat and the writing becomes more specific. I enjoyed these sections more than all the previous ones leading up to them combined.

Problem sets, like I said, are a double-edged sword. If you move through problems and struggle with the solution's manual, you will be rewarded with a better understanding of geometry, algebra, and an adequate understanding of calculus. You must have hours on your hands to do this and the process is somewhat elitist. If your prior education was lacking for whatever reason and you are taking a full load of courses, you're pretty much screwed.

I expect an intuitive, helpful, and user-friendly approach to a subject for $200. Unfortunately, I don't have many alternatives for people. My father's "Mathematics The Core Course for A-level" by L. Bostock and S. Chandler was infinitely helpful for understanding basic concepts. I highly recommend this book for a basic reference to go along with this calculus text. It is not remotely in-depth but covers concepts efficiently and effectively and has a review of all necessary previous material.

There are several free calculus texts online which I've heard good things about and plan to work through this summer. They come in PDF format and seem worthwhile. The endless proliferation of new texts over old material is nothing but a scam to get college kids' money and an past-time for professors who think they could do it better. Sometimes they can, but most of the time they can't. Basic calculus hasn't changed in a while, so if you really just want to learn calc then just go download one of the free books online.

I was re-taking multivariable calculus this past semester (as kind of a filler class at the community college...I just had some general ed. class to take, so I thought I'd try calc III again and see if I would actually learn anything about vector calculus this time around). We were loaned out the paperback Multivariable edition of the Briggs/Cochran calculus book. (One down-side of these copies -- the ink smudged way too easily. But that's really not a factor in my four-star rating, I promise.)

I've managed to take long enough getting through school (as I mostly just take evening and online classes, what with working during the day) that I've used three different calculus books -- Stewart, Thomas and now Briggs. Also, a friend and I are kinda math/physics junkies so we both have fairly extensive collections of Dover books and other various textbooks. Point being, I've come across a lot of different calculus books.

And this one has just become my favorite. It never feels dumbed-down (like Stewart did), and it's significantly more readable than Thomas calculus (which does Ok at times, then falls apart at other times). If you've happened to used the Knight physics textbook recently, the Briggs/Cochran book is similar in flavor -- conversational yet extremely thorough. It still requires focused reading and plenty of practice, but at least the book won't be an obstacle to learning (as is the case with so many other textbooks in the math/physics world, I find).

If I were the type to give our five-star ratings like candy, I definitely would have given this thing five stars. But I work with more of a "three stars is standard, four means its somewhere between really good and excellent, five stars means it's utterly freaking magical" scale. (Two stars means it's pretty bad and one star means it's garbage, or dubiously-relevant, or something along those lines.)

Same as the one required for all three calculus which means you can either purchase a calculus book or rent this one every semester. Your spending the same amount of money if you plan on taking calculus for three semesters in a row. If you don't, or if you plan on taking breaks in between then get this book.

This book is horrible for learning calculus. In fact, it is so bad that our college is in the process of changing to another. As far as the reasons why:

1. Each chapter and sub-chapter only skims over the concepts, then gives you problems that are well beyond the scope of what they explained. Without a professor's support, it will take you 10-20 times longer to learn/apply a concept than if someone simply explained the process to you. I'm all about critical thinking, but when you have to not only figure out how to set the problem up, but also all the steps that the section of the book left out, it is just a horrid way to learn.

2. The problems in one sub-chapter will require you to solve the problem using concepts that they haven't even taught you yet!!! As an honors student, our professor has given us some of the more challenging problems in the sections as homework. In order to solve several of them this semester, we had to look ahead 2-3 sub-chapters in order to learn the concepts that we have to apply to solve them!

3. There is no learning from trying the problems. You either get them right or get them wrong and learn little to nothing. This is because even though the answers to the odd numbers are listed in the back of the book, there is absolutely no explanation given on how they attained that answer. Sometimes, you may even have the right answer, but you simply reduced differently than they had. As far as the solutions manual, I know two students who bought it, and both said it is a waste of money. Most the steps are skipped over in the process of getting to the answer, so it is virtually impossible to learn anything from it beyond what the answer key in the back will tell you.

I could go on, but those are the more prominent issues. Just to add, this information is not just from me, but from the two professors I talked to that are in the process of changing the book they use. As far as me personally, I am an A student who has never had any problem getting an A in all classes I've taken to date. I also hardly ever have to study. However, with how (for lack of a better word) half-@ssed this book is, I spend hours and hours on end trying to search the internet to try and find the information I need to know how to solve these problems. Most students in my class don't even waste their time doing the homework, as they know that until our professor goes over it, the book simply doesn't provide them with the information they need. It is inefficient, a time-waster, a horrible way to learn the concepts, will make you VERY frustrated and discouraged, and should not be used to learn calculus. About the best this book could be used for is practice with the problems, as some of them do prove to be extremely difficult. However, there are many other books out there that would offer you the same thing while also giving you the necessary information to fully understand the concepts. In my personal opinion, I'd suggest avoiding this book like the plague. It challenges you, but not in a way that optimally educates you.

Having worked from both, this is a better calculus book than the ubiquitous Stewart book. Stewart isn't bad, but this Briggs/Cochran/Gillett is consistently clearer in its explanations. I guess one goes with whatever text one's school chooses, but if I had only had the Stewart book assigned, I would also want a copy of this one for reference.

The book came within the allotted time ( which was a very long time) however they put my book in a plastic envelope with little tiny bubbles... what where they thinking? If I am going to pay $100 plus for a book and then pay for shipping and handling they could at least put it in a box so I get my new book undamaged. I will never buy from them again.

The book came within the allotted time ( which was a very long time) however they put my book in a plastic envelope with little tiny bubbles... what where they thinking? If I am going to pay $100 plus for a book and then pay for shipping and handling they could at least put it in a box so I get my new book undamaged. I will never buy from them again.