Differential and Integral Calculus for Beginners

Abstract

THIS is a book written to supply the wants of students in advanced physics who require some knowledge of the calculus to enable them to read treatises on physical science, but who have not time to devote to a thorough study of higher mathematics. It is the outcome of a series of articles printed some time ago in the pages of the Practical Teacher. Most of the text-books which have been written on the subject of the calculus treat it too fully, and deal with examples of too complex and difficult a character to be really suited to the needs of students, who chiefly want the calculus to enable them to understand the theory of comparatively simple experimental problems in mechanics and physics. The present little book is one of several that have been written in recent years with the object of supplying this want. The author has treated the subject in a very simple manner, and does not assume the reader to have more mathematical skill than is involved in a familiar knowledge of elementary algebra and geometry. The opening chapter deals with the elements of coordinate geometry, and explains the nature of the circular and exponential functions sufficiently to render it needless for the ordinary student to refer to other books. This is further ensured by the addition of an appendix dealing with trigonometrical ratios and formulas. Two chapters are spent on the differentiation of simple and complex functions, two others on maxima and minima and expansions, and two more on simple integrations by direct and special methods. This is followed by a section devoted to applications to problems in geometry, mechanics and, more especially, in physics. The final chapters deal with double and triple integration and simple differential equations.

Differential and Integral Calculus for Beginners.

By Edwin Edser Pp. vi + 253. (London: Nelson and Sons, 1901.)