Is is a bad idea to use an old textbook such as Differential and integral calculus, with examples and...
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4
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I am wondering if it is a bad idea to use an old textbook, such as
Differential and integral calculus, with examples and applications by George A. Osborne. This book was published in 1906 and there are no known copy right restrictions, which means students may use a free e-version if they would like to save money. On the other hand, hard copies are still available for sale.
To me, this book is very well written and contains all the basic materials that need to be covered in a traditional calculus course. Furthermore, it also contains a large number of examples, which is very helpful to the students. On the other hand, I am wondering if there is any issue with using an old textbook like this. For example,
- Are there any terminologies and notations that are considered outdated?
- Are there any new discoveries in the past 110 years or so that need to be included into the calculus course which were not found in an old book?
- What will my students and peers think about the idea of using an old textbook?
I personally do not know any teacher who uses such an old book as the textbook; but is it really a bad idea to do so?
undergraduate-education calculus textbooks
asked 4 hours ago
Zuriel
53649
add a comment |
up vote
4
down vote
favorite
I am wondering if it is a bad idea to use an old textbook, such as
Differential and integral calculus, with examples and applications by George A. Osborne. This book was published in 1906 and there are no known copy right restrictions, which means students may use a free e-version if they would like to save money. On the other hand, hard copies are still available for sale.
To me, this book is very well written and contains all the basic materials that need to be covered in a traditional calculus course. Furthermore, it also contains a large number of examples, which is very helpful to the students. On the other hand, I am wondering if there is any issue with using an old textbook like this. For example,
- Are there any terminologies and notations that are considered outdated?
- Are there any new discoveries in the past 110 years or so that need to be included into the calculus course which were not found in an old book?
- What will my students and peers think about the idea of using an old textbook?
I personally do not know any teacher who uses such an old book as the textbook; but is it really a bad idea to do so?
undergraduate-education calculus textbooks
asked 4 hours ago
Zuriel
53649
Once upon a time, I spent a dozen hours perusing older calculus texts. We've come a long way.
– James S. Cook
3 hours ago
Ask the members of your department who have taught this course before. Are there engineering students in the course? If so, ask engineering faculty about your proposed book. Same for biology students, physics students, economics students, etc. See mathoverflow.net/questions/13089 despite being "no longer relevant"
– Gerald Edgar
2 hours ago
add a comment |
up vote
4
down vote
favorite
up vote
4
down vote
favorite
I am wondering if it is a bad idea to use an old textbook, such as
Differential and integral calculus, with examples and applications by George A. Osborne. This book was published in 1906 and there are no known copy right restrictions, which means students may use a free e-version if they would like to save money. On the other hand, hard copies are still available for sale.
To me, this book is very well written and contains all the basic materials that need to be covered in a traditional calculus course. Furthermore, it also contains a large number of examples, which is very helpful to the students. On the other hand, I am wondering if there is any issue with using an old textbook like this. For example,
- Are there any terminologies and notations that are considered outdated?
- Are there any new discoveries in the past 110 years or so that need to be included into the calculus course which were not found in an old book?
- What will my students and peers think about the idea of using an old textbook?
I personally do not know any teacher who uses such an old book as the textbook; but is it really a bad idea to do so?
undergraduate-education calculus textbooks
asked 4 hours ago
Zuriel
53649
I am wondering if it is a bad idea to use an old textbook, such as
Differential and integral calculus, with examples and applications by George A. Osborne. This book was published in 1906 and there are no known copy right restrictions, which means students may use a free e-version if they would like to save money. On the other hand, hard copies are still available for sale.
To me, this book is very well written and contains all the basic materials that need to be covered in a traditional calculus course. Furthermore, it also contains a large number of examples, which is very helpful to the students. On the other hand, I am wondering if there is any issue with using an old textbook like this. For example,
- Are there any terminologies and notations that are considered outdated?
- Are there any new discoveries in the past 110 years or so that need to be included into the calculus course which were not found in an old book?
- What will my students and peers think about the idea of using an old textbook?
I personally do not know any teacher who uses such an old book as the textbook; but is it really a bad idea to do so?
undergraduate-education calculus textbooks
undergraduate-education calculus textbooks
asked 4 hours ago
Zuriel
53649
asked 4 hours ago
Zuriel
53649
edited 7 mins ago
asked 4 hours ago
Zuriel
53649
asked 4 hours ago
Zuriel
53649
asked 4 hours ago
Zuriel
53649
53649
Once upon a time, I spent a dozen hours perusing older calculus texts. We've come a long way.
– James S. Cook
3 hours ago
Ask the members of your department who have taught this course before. Are there engineering students in the course? If so, ask engineering faculty about your proposed book. Same for biology students, physics students, economics students, etc. See mathoverflow.net/questions/13089 despite being "no longer relevant"
– Gerald Edgar
2 hours ago
add a comment |
Once upon a time, I spent a dozen hours perusing older calculus texts. We've come a long way.
– James S. Cook
3 hours ago
Ask the members of your department who have taught this course before. Are there engineering students in the course? If so, ask engineering faculty about your proposed book. Same for biology students, physics students, economics students, etc. See mathoverflow.net/questions/13089 despite being "no longer relevant"
– Gerald Edgar
2 hours ago
Once upon a time, I spent a dozen hours perusing older calculus texts. We've come a long way.
– James S. Cook
3 hours ago
Once upon a time, I spent a dozen hours perusing older calculus texts. We've come a long way.
– James S. Cook
3 hours ago
Ask the members of your department who have taught this course before. Are there engineering students in the course? If so, ask engineering faculty about your proposed book. Same for biology students, physics students, economics students, etc. See mathoverflow.net/questions/13089 despite being "no longer relevant"
– Gerald Edgar
2 hours ago
Ask the members of your department who have taught this course before. Are there engineering students in the course? If so, ask engineering faculty about your proposed book. Same for biology students, physics students, economics students, etc. See mathoverflow.net/questions/13089 despite being "no longer relevant"
– Gerald Edgar
2 hours ago
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
up vote
2
down vote
I'm all for using old editions and/or free e-texts. But, this is a bit too outdated in my opinion. I could have missed it, but I did not spot a clear section on:
- related rates
- mean value theorem
- L'hopital's Rule
- surface integration
- Green's, or Divergence or Stokes' Theorems
- modern vector notation
Yes, there is a preponderance of examples on basic calculational techniques, quite impressive. But, I do think the application of calculus to curve sketching and applications to say circuits, biology, finance are missing.
More to the point, the organization is very nonstandard when framed against the usual USA-based sequence. In summary, calculus II and III are mixed together in a rather strange way. Also, missing as far as I remember:
- introduction to differential equations
- second order constant coefficient ODEs
We can agree or disagree about whether or not these belong, but some schools need these covered early to help engineering keep their students up to speed with engineering curriculum which needs this basic ODE stuff.
Probably the worst thing, the lack of nice diagrams and organizing boxes. All Calculus texts for about the last 5 decades have pretty nice pictures and a lot of organizational aids for studying. I think some of these are worth it. Of course, you could use this book as a backdrop for adding all that nice stuff if you want to work on it, but it seems like a lot of work when you could just as reasonably say use the 4th edition of Thomas or some such thing which is widely available for 10's of dollars.
answered 3 hours ago
James S. Cook
5,74311442
Thank you your detailed analysis on this book! Am just curious, do you use any old book as your textbook for Calculus? I am using Serge Lang's A First Course in Calculus as the textbook for Calculus I and II; Lang's Calculus of Several Variables for Calculus III. They are old (but not antique) and nice and I am wondering if there are even older ones that will be suitable, such as the one I was asking about. There was also a calculus book by Grigorii Fichtenholz but I failed to find the book.
– Zuriel
9 mins ago
I try to follow my course notes which are almost a complete calculus book. I lack exercises and a proper write up of a chunk of calculus II (to my standards anyway). My notes are born of Stewart, Thomas, Anton and where it gets deeper Apostol. My usual approach is to recommend or require the text my institution uses in case I need to cite more practice problems etc. The openstax text by Strang may be pretty great by now. My notes: supermath.info/OldschoolCalculusII.pdf and supermath.info/CalculusIIIf2014.pdf
– James S. Cook
4 mins ago
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
2
down vote
I'm all for using old editions and/or free e-texts. But, this is a bit too outdated in my opinion. I could have missed it, but I did not spot a clear section on:
- related rates
- mean value theorem
- L'hopital's Rule
- surface integration
- Green's, or Divergence or Stokes' Theorems
- modern vector notation
Yes, there is a preponderance of examples on basic calculational techniques, quite impressive. But, I do think the application of calculus to curve sketching and applications to say circuits, biology, finance are missing.
More to the point, the organization is very nonstandard when framed against the usual USA-based sequence. In summary, calculus II and III are mixed together in a rather strange way. Also, missing as far as I remember:
- introduction to differential equations
- second order constant coefficient ODEs
We can agree or disagree about whether or not these belong, but some schools need these covered early to help engineering keep their students up to speed with engineering curriculum which needs this basic ODE stuff.
Probably the worst thing, the lack of nice diagrams and organizing boxes. All Calculus texts for about the last 5 decades have pretty nice pictures and a lot of organizational aids for studying. I think some of these are worth it. Of course, you could use this book as a backdrop for adding all that nice stuff if you want to work on it, but it seems like a lot of work when you could just as reasonably say use the 4th edition of Thomas or some such thing which is widely available for 10's of dollars.
answered 3 hours ago
James S. Cook
5,74311442
Thank you your detailed analysis on this book! Am just curious, do you use any old book as your textbook for Calculus? I am using Serge Lang's A First Course in Calculus as the textbook for Calculus I and II; Lang's Calculus of Several Variables for Calculus III. They are old (but not antique) and nice and I am wondering if there are even older ones that will be suitable, such as the one I was asking about. There was also a calculus book by Grigorii Fichtenholz but I failed to find the book.
– Zuriel
9 mins ago
I try to follow my course notes which are almost a complete calculus book. I lack exercises and a proper write up of a chunk of calculus II (to my standards anyway). My notes are born of Stewart, Thomas, Anton and where it gets deeper Apostol. My usual approach is to recommend or require the text my institution uses in case I need to cite more practice problems etc. The openstax text by Strang may be pretty great by now. My notes: supermath.info/OldschoolCalculusII.pdf and supermath.info/CalculusIIIf2014.pdf
– James S. Cook
4 mins ago
add a comment |
up vote
2
down vote
I'm all for using old editions and/or free e-texts. But, this is a bit too outdated in my opinion. I could have missed it, but I did not spot a clear section on:
- related rates
- mean value theorem
- L'hopital's Rule
- surface integration
- Green's, or Divergence or Stokes' Theorems
- modern vector notation
Yes, there is a preponderance of examples on basic calculational techniques, quite impressive. But, I do think the application of calculus to curve sketching and applications to say circuits, biology, finance are missing.
More to the point, the organization is very nonstandard when framed against the usual USA-based sequence. In summary, calculus II and III are mixed together in a rather strange way. Also, missing as far as I remember:
- introduction to differential equations
- second order constant coefficient ODEs
We can agree or disagree about whether or not these belong, but some schools need these covered early to help engineering keep their students up to speed with engineering curriculum which needs this basic ODE stuff.
Probably the worst thing, the lack of nice diagrams and organizing boxes. All Calculus texts for about the last 5 decades have pretty nice pictures and a lot of organizational aids for studying. I think some of these are worth it. Of course, you could use this book as a backdrop for adding all that nice stuff if you want to work on it, but it seems like a lot of work when you could just as reasonably say use the 4th edition of Thomas or some such thing which is widely available for 10's of dollars.
answered 3 hours ago
James S. Cook
5,74311442
Thank you your detailed analysis on this book! Am just curious, do you use any old book as your textbook for Calculus? I am using Serge Lang's A First Course in Calculus as the textbook for Calculus I and II; Lang's Calculus of Several Variables for Calculus III. They are old (but not antique) and nice and I am wondering if there are even older ones that will be suitable, such as the one I was asking about. There was also a calculus book by Grigorii Fichtenholz but I failed to find the book.
– Zuriel
9 mins ago
I try to follow my course notes which are almost a complete calculus book. I lack exercises and a proper write up of a chunk of calculus II (to my standards anyway). My notes are born of Stewart, Thomas, Anton and where it gets deeper Apostol. My usual approach is to recommend or require the text my institution uses in case I need to cite more practice problems etc. The openstax text by Strang may be pretty great by now. My notes: supermath.info/OldschoolCalculusII.pdf and supermath.info/CalculusIIIf2014.pdf
– James S. Cook
4 mins ago
add a comment |
up vote
2
down vote
up vote
2
down vote
I'm all for using old editions and/or free e-texts. But, this is a bit too outdated in my opinion. I could have missed it, but I did not spot a clear section on:
- related rates
- mean value theorem
- L'hopital's Rule
- surface integration
- Green's, or Divergence or Stokes' Theorems
- modern vector notation
Yes, there is a preponderance of examples on basic calculational techniques, quite impressive. But, I do think the application of calculus to curve sketching and applications to say circuits, biology, finance are missing.
More to the point, the organization is very nonstandard when framed against the usual USA-based sequence. In summary, calculus II and III are mixed together in a rather strange way. Also, missing as far as I remember:
- introduction to differential equations
- second order constant coefficient ODEs
We can agree or disagree about whether or not these belong, but some schools need these covered early to help engineering keep their students up to speed with engineering curriculum which needs this basic ODE stuff.
Probably the worst thing, the lack of nice diagrams and organizing boxes. All Calculus texts for about the last 5 decades have pretty nice pictures and a lot of organizational aids for studying. I think some of these are worth it. Of course, you could use this book as a backdrop for adding all that nice stuff if you want to work on it, but it seems like a lot of work when you could just as reasonably say use the 4th edition of Thomas or some such thing which is widely available for 10's of dollars.
answered 3 hours ago
James S. Cook
5,74311442
I'm all for using old editions and/or free e-texts. But, this is a bit too outdated in my opinion. I could have missed it, but I did not spot a clear section on:
- related rates
- mean value theorem
- L'hopital's Rule
- surface integration
- Green's, or Divergence or Stokes' Theorems
- modern vector notation
Yes, there is a preponderance of examples on basic calculational techniques, quite impressive. But, I do think the application of calculus to curve sketching and applications to say circuits, biology, finance are missing.
More to the point, the organization is very nonstandard when framed against the usual USA-based sequence. In summary, calculus II and III are mixed together in a rather strange way. Also, missing as far as I remember:
- introduction to differential equations
- second order constant coefficient ODEs
We can agree or disagree about whether or not these belong, but some schools need these covered early to help engineering keep their students up to speed with engineering curriculum which needs this basic ODE stuff.
Probably the worst thing, the lack of nice diagrams and organizing boxes. All Calculus texts for about the last 5 decades have pretty nice pictures and a lot of organizational aids for studying. I think some of these are worth it. Of course, you could use this book as a backdrop for adding all that nice stuff if you want to work on it, but it seems like a lot of work when you could just as reasonably say use the 4th edition of Thomas or some such thing which is widely available for 10's of dollars.
answered 3 hours ago
James S. Cook
5,74311442
answered 3 hours ago
James S. Cook
5,74311442
answered 3 hours ago
James S. Cook
5,74311442
answered 3 hours ago
James S. Cook
5,74311442
5,74311442
Thank you your detailed analysis on this book! Am just curious, do you use any old book as your textbook for Calculus? I am using Serge Lang's A First Course in Calculus as the textbook for Calculus I and II; Lang's Calculus of Several Variables for Calculus III. They are old (but not antique) and nice and I am wondering if there are even older ones that will be suitable, such as the one I was asking about. There was also a calculus book by Grigorii Fichtenholz but I failed to find the book.
– Zuriel
9 mins ago
I try to follow my course notes which are almost a complete calculus book. I lack exercises and a proper write up of a chunk of calculus II (to my standards anyway). My notes are born of Stewart, Thomas, Anton and where it gets deeper Apostol. My usual approach is to recommend or require the text my institution uses in case I need to cite more practice problems etc. The openstax text by Strang may be pretty great by now. My notes: supermath.info/OldschoolCalculusII.pdf and supermath.info/CalculusIIIf2014.pdf
– James S. Cook
4 mins ago
add a comment |
Thank you your detailed analysis on this book! Am just curious, do you use any old book as your textbook for Calculus? I am using Serge Lang's A First Course in Calculus as the textbook for Calculus I and II; Lang's Calculus of Several Variables for Calculus III. They are old (but not antique) and nice and I am wondering if there are even older ones that will be suitable, such as the one I was asking about. There was also a calculus book by Grigorii Fichtenholz but I failed to find the book.
– Zuriel
9 mins ago
I try to follow my course notes which are almost a complete calculus book. I lack exercises and a proper write up of a chunk of calculus II (to my standards anyway). My notes are born of Stewart, Thomas, Anton and where it gets deeper Apostol. My usual approach is to recommend or require the text my institution uses in case I need to cite more practice problems etc. The openstax text by Strang may be pretty great by now. My notes: supermath.info/OldschoolCalculusII.pdf and supermath.info/CalculusIIIf2014.pdf
– James S. Cook
4 mins ago
Thank you your detailed analysis on this book! Am just curious, do you use any old book as your textbook for Calculus? I am using Serge Lang's A First Course in Calculus as the textbook for Calculus I and II; Lang's Calculus of Several Variables for Calculus III. They are old (but not antique) and nice and I am wondering if there are even older ones that will be suitable, such as the one I was asking about. There was also a calculus book by Grigorii Fichtenholz but I failed to find the book.
– Zuriel
9 mins ago
Thank you your detailed analysis on this book! Am just curious, do you use any old book as your textbook for Calculus? I am using Serge Lang's A First Course in Calculus as the textbook for Calculus I and II; Lang's Calculus of Several Variables for Calculus III. They are old (but not antique) and nice and I am wondering if there are even older ones that will be suitable, such as the one I was asking about. There was also a calculus book by Grigorii Fichtenholz but I failed to find the book.
– Zuriel
9 mins ago
I try to follow my course notes which are almost a complete calculus book. I lack exercises and a proper write up of a chunk of calculus II (to my standards anyway). My notes are born of Stewart, Thomas, Anton and where it gets deeper Apostol. My usual approach is to recommend or require the text my institution uses in case I need to cite more practice problems etc. The openstax text by Strang may be pretty great by now. My notes: supermath.info/OldschoolCalculusII.pdf and supermath.info/CalculusIIIf2014.pdf
– James S. Cook
4 mins ago
I try to follow my course notes which are almost a complete calculus book. I lack exercises and a proper write up of a chunk of calculus II (to my standards anyway). My notes are born of Stewart, Thomas, Anton and where it gets deeper Apostol. My usual approach is to recommend or require the text my institution uses in case I need to cite more practice problems etc. The openstax text by Strang may be pretty great by now. My notes: supermath.info/OldschoolCalculusII.pdf and supermath.info/CalculusIIIf2014.pdf
– James S. Cook
4 mins ago
add a comment |
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Once upon a time, I spent a dozen hours perusing older calculus texts. We've come a long way.
– James S. Cook
3 hours ago
Ask the members of your department who have taught this course before. Are there engineering students in the course? If so, ask engineering faculty about your proposed book. Same for biology students, physics students, economics students, etc. See mathoverflow.net/questions/13089 despite being "no longer relevant"
– Gerald Edgar
2 hours ago