Silvanus P. Thompson (1851–1916)

This book introduces the concepts of The Calculus in a different way. This method of Thompson skips the idea of limits and instead focuses more on some tricks that one can use to ease into The Calculus. It includes a number of problems to do and covers most of the basics of differential and integral Calculus. I enjoyed it, but I didn't have any need to go into any real depth so I skimmed over the problems, which probably lowered my understanding. However, I have had Calculus in a classroom show more setting before.

Bottom line, this book is pretty good. I liked the approach taken by Thompson in this work, and the edits by Martin Gardner made it more accessible to a modern audience. show less

An impressive review of the different ways (and failures)in establishing what is truth in a whole ranges of contexts that cries out to be revisited in the 21st century but with a conclusion that rings true that you will know the truth of a man by the deeds he does and so those who have received the spirit will practice love and not words

I'm a software developer and have had my interests in Mathematics for quite some time now. But my knowledge about Calculus was very limited. Hence I picked up this book.

The book has real simple language and of course since this a book about an advanced concept, the reader is expected to have some background in Mathematics.

The author provides some examples practicing which gets the concepts ingrained in the readers' mind. I'll be honest, I didn't solve most of the problems (that was not my show more intention of reading the book either).

The book goes into some depth and talks about chain rule, product rule and the quotient rule in Differential Calculus.

It would've made it the book better if it had a chapter on Limits as well. show less

Although Thompson's 1910 text has been revised and modernized, it remains at bottom a utilitarian approach to learning to calculate the solutions to calculus problems. So, while it's not suitable as a text, it may be useful to those having trouble understanding the theory of the calculus but needing it as a tool.