| Over the past 25 years or so, the typical college calculus textbook has grown from a modest 350-page book to a huge volume of some 1,200 pages, with thousands of exercises, special topics, interviews with career mathematicians, 10 or more appendixes, and much, much more. But as the old adage goes, more is not always better. The enormous size and sheer volume of these monsters (not to mention their weight!) have made their use a daunting task. Both student and instructor are lost in a sea of information, not knowing which material is important and which can be skipped. As if the study of calculus is not a challenge already, these huge texts make the task even more difficult.
The Facts On File Calculus Handbook is an attempt to come to the student’s rescue. Intended for the upper middle school, high school, and college students who are taking a single-variable calculus class, this will be a quick, ideal reference to the many definitions, theorems, and formulas for which the subject is notorious.
The reader will find important terms listed alphabetically in the Glossary section, accompanied by illustrations wherever relevant. Most entries are supplemented by at least one example to illustrate the concept under discussion.
The Biographies section has brief sketches of the lives and contributions of many of the men and women who played a role in bringing the calculus to its present state. Other names, such as Euclid or Napier, are also included because of their overall contribution to mathematics and science in general. The Chronology section surveys the development of calculus from its early roots in ancient Greece to our own times. |