Brief Calculus

Abstract

This short text is designed more for self-study or review than for classroom use; full solutions are given for nearly all the end-of-chapter problems. For a more traditional text designed for classroom use, see Fundamentals of Calculus (http://www.lightandmatter.com/fund/). The focus is mainly on integration and differentiation of functions of a single variable, although iterated integrals are discussed. Infinitesimals are used when appropriate, and are treated more rigorously than in old books like Thompson's Calculus Made Easy, but in less detail than in Keisler's Elementary Calculus: An Approach Using Infinitesimals. Numerical examples are given using the open-source computer algebra system Yacas, and Yacas is also used sometimes to cut down on the drudgery of symbolic techniques such as partial fractions. Proofs are given for all important results, but are often relegated to the back of the book, and the emphasis is on teaching the techniques of calculus rather than on abstract results.