Synopsis
This is a fairly standard level calculus textbook aimed at a first-year students. It was written by a master teacher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology whose calculus course there became nationally famous as a model for such courses before World War II. While this text focuses on applications and requires no more background then high school algebra and geometry, it differs from most standard textbooks, even of its contemporaries, in 2 major ways. Firstly, it’s clearly more comprehensive and sophisticated then most of those textbooks and covers a number of topics that are usually not present, such as basic vector algebra and geometry, conic sections, determinants, parametric equations, numerical integration and basic complex analysis of the plane. The 2 chapters on complex analysis in a basic calculus text are particularly noteworthy. The growing importance of complex variables in the physical sciences had become generally accepted during the early years of World War II due to its applications in hydrodynamics, engineering and electromagnetic theory. These additional topics are also indicative of the target audience, which were beginning mathematics and physical science majors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the early 1940’s. Because they were preparing for careers in the technical fields, these students needed stronger and more diverse mathematical training for their future studies. Secondly, while not a rigorous mathematics textbook in the sense of real analysis or abstract algebra, it is certainly more careful then most calculus textbooks-either modern or classical-with many example calculations. For example, many limits and bounds are carefully computed with inequalities in the examples. Also, when available, Phillips gives a number of geometric proofs that are quite careful, particularly those with applications to physics and engineering. For example, a very clear geometric proof is given of the Squeeze Theorem. Indeed, in many ways, the working mathematical premises of the text appear to be a) focus on all tools and applications are that critical to the future training of physics and engineering students and b) Only give careful proofs of results when elementary methods using high school mathematics are available. No deep properties of the real numbers or topological properties are used beyond superficial use of the absolute value function. This outstanding textbook will help serious students of minimal background master calculus and lay the foundations for an in-depth study of the mathematical sciences.
About the Author
Henry B.Phillips graduated from Erskine College with a bachelor's degree in 1900 and received his doctorate in 1905 from Johns Hopkins University under Frank Morley From 1905 to 1907 he was an instructor at the University of Cincinnati. He then became an instructor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1908 and remained there the rest of his career. Phillips became chairman of the mathematics faculty from 1934 to 1947 and was retired in 1947. As part of the pre-World War II American mathematics academia, Phillips was recognized as a superior teacher in a generation when most mathematicians' role was teaching-primarily training students of the physical sciences. He authored a number of textbooks on topics primarily in analytic geometry and classical analysis that were very widely accepted as standard textbooks of the era. His research was primarily in differential equations and vector analysis. Phillips was awarded an honorary doctorate (LLD) in 1939 and a 1918 Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He taught the calculus sequence at MIT for nearly 30 years, his lectures becoming famous there for their great balance of rigor and applications. Karo Maestro is the founder and editor of Blue Collar Scholar/Createspace publishers. He was a distinguished undergraduate student as a double major in mathematics and biochemistry whose poor health and personal tragedies prevented completing graduate studies. Unbowed and undaunted, he plans to return to ultimately obtain a PhD in pure mathematics before dying. His company, Blue Collar Scholar is committed to making high quality sources of mathematics-both original works and reprints-available widely and inexpensively to students of all backgrounds.
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