Calculus: Early Transcendentals Combined

The book was in great condition was exactly what I needed for my Calculus course.

The text does its job -- presents the why's, how's, and details of all the math concepts. The proofs, though students may or may not be required to be able to trace through them, are very helpful in understanding what you are actually calculating. Personally, I thought it later allowed me to work with the formulas with confidence on more varied and difficult problems. The book does a pretty good job of following you through the proof with explanations of where concepts are coming from. If one does not feel it necessary to understand the workings behind the math, the book is also visually easy to follow and so sections where sample problems are worked out are easy to skip to. Though I feel there aren't enough sample problems worked out during the reading, the practice problems make up for that. The solutions manual also helps here. I would say the book does not spoon feed knowledge in -- you do need a good foundation to be able to follow it. References to previous concepts within it do help, but only for concepts covered within the book. I had no troubles at all learning my calc 1-4 with this book and solutions manual, despite some very disappointing professors.

This is a typical math book in that it uses a LOT of words that only math teachers and majors use on a regular basis, but it's still quite readable. The way Howard Anton puts some of the Calculus formulae are totally undreadable if you don't have a strong math-brain, because he uses far too many variables and symbols without sufficient explaination. Other than that, my only other complaint is that, like most math books, the answers in the back of this book are so condensed that you need an entire new book to learn the methods of condensing answers in order to even read them.

If you need this book for school, get it, but if not then don't bother spending so much for information you can get cheaper.

I have read this book thoroughly, more than once, and I have been very impressed. The exercise sets are focused on problem solving and mathematical concepts, such as the book. I have never encountered such a logical formation of mathematical rigor. I am a Physics/Mathematics major, and I have read many mathematical textbooks. I have to say that very few come close to this. Many students in my calculus classes find the book rather difficult, but they don't read the chapters. I have spoken with students, and many just skip the reading and go straight to the exercise sets. The exercise sets are difficult if you do not read the chapter, Which presents the information with adherence to the exercise sets. It takes patience and persistence to understand the language of math. If you are considering this book, or you have no choice, I would encourage you to engage yourself within the chapter reading as well as the exercise sets. I would like to thank the authors for this text, and I will continue to keep an eye out for more.