Multivariable Calculus: Concepts and Contexts (with Tools for Enriching Calculus, Interactive Video Skillbuilder CD-ROM, and iLrn Homework/Personal Tutor) - Hardcover

Stewart, James

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0534410049 ISBN 13: 9780534410049

Publisher: Cengage Learning, 2004

Synopsis

Stewart's MULTIVARIABLE CALCULUS: CONCEPTS AND CONTEXTS, THIRD EDITION offers a streamlined approach to teaching calculus, focusing on major concepts and supporting those with precise definitions, patient explanations, and carefully graded problems. MULTIVARIABLE CALCULUS: CONCEPTS AND CONTEXTS is highly regarded because it has successfully brought peace to departments that were split between reform and traditional approaches to teaching calculus. Not only does the text help reconcile the two schools of thought by skillfully merging the best of traditional calculus with the best of the reform movement, it does so with innovation and meticulous accuracy.

About this title

About the Author

The late James Stewart received his M.S. from Stanford University and his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. He did research at the University of London and was influenced by the famous mathematician George Polya at Stanford University. Stewart was most recently Professor of Mathematics at McMaster University, and his research field was harmonic analysis. Stewart was the author of a best-selling calculus textbook series published by Cengage Learning, including CALCULUS, CALCULUS: EARLY TRANSCENDENTALS, and CALCULUS: CONCEPTS AND CONTEXTS, as well as a series of precalculus texts.

Review

"I have appreciated two main things from this textbook. The first is the concise language that Stewart uses. It makes my job much easier. I can embellish, add, emphasize or not easily. The second item is the paring down of the calculus material to an amount that...allows me enough room to add the various exploratory activities that I have my classes use."

"The single feature of this book that I like the most is the breadth in the exercises."

"Stewart does a good job in extracting the best parts from calculus reform efforts and traditional approaches. The book is well organized, the material is clearly presented, and there is an abundance of problems of varying levels. The problems are the right type to engage students in thinking about the concepts and to develop skills and ability to apply the calculus.... The organization and presentation is designed to develop perspective, conceptual understanding and ability to use the concepts and methods to actually solve problems." "I like the author's approach very much...it combines the best features of both [the traditional and the reform approaches], making it possible to present a better course. Stewart's approach contains the most important aspects of that [reform] approach--rule of four, use of projects, use of technology, focus on topics of value to clients, development of conceptual understanding over formalism, writing." "The text is well-informed about the use of calculus and makes good use of realistic settings, not just artificially manufactured information."

"I want a text that stresses the numerical and graphical as well as the algebraic approach to calculus. But I also want a calculus text that still has a solid rigorous foundation, and the Stewart book provides both."

"Among the strengths of this text are the clear writing styles of the author, the use of color and diagrams throughout the book, the excellent organization of the book, the superb set of ancillaries both for the student and the instructor, and the excellent homework exercises."

About this edition

• Publisher: Cengage Learning
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0534410049
• ISBN 13: 9780534410049
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 496