The Complete Idiot's Guide to Calculus, 2nd Edition Paperback – June 27, 2006

Before you buy this book, you should understand what it is and what it isn't. First, what isn't this book? It's not a textbook that is going to give you rigorous practice in calculus, and it's not a couple hundred pages of bound fairy dust that will magically make you good at calculus if you believe hard enough.What is it? I think of it as everything a good calculus textbook should tell you, explained in words rather than implied with long, difficult-to-follow proofs. I'm relearning calculus after nearly a decade of forgetting it, and let me tell you: a standard textbook was getting me nowhere, even when I tried using some of the many online resources out there. I am generally pretty good at learning from textbooks, but wading through math texts feels about as useful as cleaning my glasses in a dust storm. In addition, calculus can be a bear to understand. This book has been a great investment so far--Kelley explains in relatively simple vocabulary and with simple examples how calculus works and how to solve different kinds of problems, and his only expectations are that you already have a basic understanding of trig and algebra (and he even reviews some of that stuff as well).As I said above, this book is not going to give you rigorous practice in calculus. There just aren't enough problems and solutions in it for that. However, if you use it in conjunction with a college calculus text and/or some of the many problem sets available online and in print, you may very well be unstoppable--or at least good enough at calculus to appear that way to the average person.The Complete Idiot's Guide to Calculus has been extremely useful to me so far, and I'm making progress much more quickly than if I had relied only on a conventional textbook. So even though I'm relearning calculus rather than starting from scratch, I believe this book would be a great investment for anyone learning calculus, whether you're doing it in a classroom setting or mustering up the self-discipline to do it yourself.

I bought this book because I was failing Calculs- the last class I needed to graduate! I breaks down calculus in very clear, common English. The extremely technical terms spoken along in class and written in my text book was half the battle.I purchased this book andThe Calculus Lifesaver: All the Tools You Need to Excel at Calculus... by Adrian Banner together.I would start by reading a chapter from The Complete Idiot's Guide to Calculus, 2nd Edition by W. Michael Kelley in order to understand the basic concepts (like Limits or Derivatives). This book is good at going through problems step-by-step, enabling you to understand what is happening and why. The problems in The Complete Idiot's Guide to Calculus, 2nd Edition by W. Michael Kelley are not particularly difficult (once you know what is going on...when I bought this book i understood absolutely nothing about calculus) but they show you exactly how to work a particular kind of problem or how to use a particular rule/definition/theorem.Afterthat, I would go to the coinciding chapter/s/ in The Calculus Lifesaver: All the Tools You Need to Excel at Calculus... by Adrian Banner and use this book to better my understanding and extrapolate off the basic concepts in the Idiot's Guide. The Calculus Lifesaver uses a bit more technical language but is lightheated and is good for easing you into understanding the class material. The Calculus Lifesaver also has problems at the same level of difficulty as the problems in my class.If you are willing to do the work...withThe Calculus Lifesaver: All the Tools You Need to Excel at Calculus... by Adrian Bannerand The Complete Idiot's Guide to Calculus, 2nd Edition by W. Michael Kelleyin your backpack, it would be nearly impossible to fail your class.

There have been occasions where I cannot figure out a certain type of problem in my Calculus book; I don't have access to my teacher's guidance, and my solutions manual isn't as detailed as I need it to be for that moment.This book is for those situations. I use to help teach me new sections from my class book: Calculus of a Single Variable, 9e, by Ron Larson. Not everything goes in the exact same order. It does cover the same topics though. I also use this book as the best reference for Trigonometry that I own, excluding my Trigonometry book.The Complete Idiot's Guide to Calculus is short, detailed, and useful: end of story. It has worked out examples with VERY detailed explanations, from start until finish. It has at least one practice exercise for every topic, with a very detailed solution in the back of the book.It's small enough that I can take it on the go to study. It's truly almost as good as having a portable math teacher.The book is also full of dorky humor, which helps take away some of the stress from certain topics.This book is EXTREMELY useful for ANYONE learning, studying, or refreshing Calculus information. It doesn't matter if you're good at Calculus, or if you're horrible. It doesn't matter if you're bad at Algebra, but survived. Or maybe you forgot a lot of Trigonometry. This book is a must buy for EVERYONE who is using another text in Calculus.I was also very happy with the condition I got this book in. The price was also very reasonable. It actually astounded me that such a useful book could be so affordable. This is a very powerful arsenal for your battle against Calculus.

You need to good at your old algebra to manage this book. So in itself, its insufficient fr some to become OK at calculus.

I haven't finished reading it, but what I have checked it looks really good.This book also was revised, corrected and augmented!From part 1 the only thing I don't like a lot is how he explains the special angles in the trigonometry part (a teacher explained to me an easier method that doesn't recall a lot in memorization). However, in the other topics I think are described in an excellent and easy to learn way.P.S. I'm an engineer :D.

I love it!

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