The book that I wish had been used for my math course is the book by Bamberg and Sternberg, An Introduction to Mathematics for Students of Physics, Cambridge University Press. It teaches several branches of math at the same time, and does calculus with differential forms, obviating the need to unlearn a set of bad ideas when you take the next steps. On Dec 13, 2014, at 11:22 AM, Andy Latto <andy.latto@pobox.com> wrote:
Why does your friend want to learn mathematics? If he wants to learn physics, or engineering, calculus is something he needs to learn. But if he wants to learn mathematics for its own sake, to appreciate the beauty of mathematics, I would consider learning abstract algebra, starting with group theory, rather than calculus.
Andy
On Fri, Dec 12, 2014 at 9:50 PM, Bernie Cosell <bernie@fantasyfarm.com> wrote:
A very smart friend has the misfortune of being an English major and so avoided essentially all math courses in college [many many years ago]. Any recommendations on a good "intro" book [I'd be helping as mentor/tutor]. A check on Amazon uncovers dozens of "Calculus made easy" and such books... I suppose I could just pick one at random...
thanks! /b\
-- Bernie Cosell Fantasy Farm Fibers mailto:bernie@fantasyfarm.com Pearisburg, VA --> Too many people, too few sheep <--
_______________________________________________ math-fun mailing list math-fun@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/math-fun
-- Andy.Latto@pobox.com
_______________________________________________ math-fun mailing list math-fun@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/math-fun