Calculus For Dummies (For Dummies (Lifestyle)) 2nd Edition

My college calculus book was about as easy to figure out as Chinese algebra. If I had not visited my instructor before each class I would have probably dropped the course instead of my final test A+. This book is student friendly and written by an instructor who understands how daunting calculus might seem and presents the information with a good sense of humor making it less stressful to figure out. Being retired I often have down time and study calculus to fill in and see if I can remember since calculus class was 1972 and I never had occasion to use it.

Excellent for teaching calculus at my level.

So far, the material itself has been easy enough to understand and follow along. However, one thing I HATE in textbooks is when it is written "refer to figure x" and figure x is on a page before or after the material you're reading which requires you to flip back and fourth between the pictorial and the information. As a visual learner this is very frustrating. I'm only in chapter 3 and this has already happened about a handful of times.EDIT: As I go on with this text, I've decided to bump the review up a notch because the paper is very nice. It's refreshing to get real paper you can actually highlight on again after getting so many textbooks with glossy paper that really do not like to be written in.

I love science, but I struggle with math. I passed college Calculus but it took me three times to do so.I wish I’d had this book back then.___I’m currently working through some nuclear reactor geometry. I realized I needed to review Calculus.I bought this book.It is exactly what I needed!“Calculus for Dummies” breaks everything into simple terms, right down to explaining what calculus even is.“Calculus for Dummies” opens with a brief algebra / trig review that shows one what they would need to continue through this book.Through a blend of diagrams and descriptions in nice, bite-sized chapters, “Calculus for Dummies” explains things in a way that’s not intimidating.This book is a solid reference for someone new to calculus, or someone looking to gain a better understanding of it. I would recommend it to any student taking calculus, whether highschool or college level.While not a replacement for a course textbook, “Calculus for Dummies” would make a perfect supplement to the class material.It makes this esoteric math seem rather fun! That, in and of itself, is a valuable thing as well.

I'm 39. I took calculus in college (through 3D calc but not DE) and the only thing I remember is basic differentiation like x^2 becomes 2x...I love this book!!! I'm on chapter 8 and have had the book for 3 days (I am not a reader). I've had A LOT of aha moments, either an epiphany of trig I didn't know way back when, or an epiphany because at one point I did know it but 100% do not remember and am learning it for the first time according to my brain. I bought this book because just starting from chapter 1.1 of my college text book was not working. Those math descriptions in the text with their weird math proof language is not something I understood then or now, despite always being one of the best at math. I get math very quickly, but Calc was a huge speed bump. I got behind in it and never caught back up (because it's math, you can't at college speeds.)So for someone who hasn't done any math past the basic 4 functions in 15 years, this book is amazing and I love it. I have to stop fawning over the book now so I can read it. I stopped to write this before I finished this book and forgot to let you know it's definitely worth it for a middle age person who just wants to relearn the maths.

Very explicit and explication easy

It helped some but still didnt understand some of it as well.

This is the best Dummies book I've bought. The author is a genius. He really explains the concepts very well and clear enough. When someone knows the materials, have plenty of experience teaching them, and happens to have a great sense of humor and is willing to write a book, there you have Mark Ryan. The materials are well organized and topics well chosen with plenty of jokes to enjoy. I recommend to read this book first before you take college calculus, so that you would have clear ideas about what calculus is about, and the important topics and examples. Don't imagine you can read this book can replace college calculus textbook, though. They serve different purposes.