Calculus, An Intuitive and Physical Approach
by Morris Kline · first published 1980
100% recommend
Why HN recommends it
Self-taught learners and engineering-minded readers praise it as a cheap, clear introduction to calculus that uses physical intuition and worked examples, with approachable exercises.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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I learned Calculus myself through a book called "Calculus - an intuitive and physical approach", by Morris Kline. It is cheap and very didatic. I never really studied physics, but I found the first books from the "Feynman lectures on Physics" to be very good.
on “Ask HN: How do I learn math/physics in my thirties?” ↗Apostol's Calculus texts (2 volumes) are the best with the supporting theory. I'm more from an engineering perspective, for readers looking for a book from that direction is Kline's "Calculus: An Intuitive and Physical Approach". Introductory general biology texts have a lot more variation in how the material is presented, but have to cover such an incredible amount of facts that there is actually less effective difference.…
on “Ask HN: A good book on Calculus?” ↗…trying to come to an intuitive, often graphical, understanding of the problem before attacking the rigorous view. (There is a good textbook from 1977 that was reprinted by Dover in 1998, Morris Kline's "Calculus: An Intuitive and Physical Approach", that I wish I had available when I was studying.)
on “Why Do We Need Limits and Infinitesimals?” ↗It depends on what you want; I came at calculus mostly from a civil and mechanical engineering point of view, and I found the Dover reprint of Morris Kline's Calculus: An Intuitive and Physical Approach, originally published in 1968, very helpful.
on “The Best Textbooks on Every Subject” ↗…Soviet-era book written as a dialogue between the author and reader. Absolutely fantastic (also see his other books on Probability etc.) - https://mirtitles.org/2018/09/04/calculus-basic-concepts-for... 2) Calculus: An Intuitive and Physical Approach by Morris Kline. A classic; any book by Morris Kline is a must-have - https://store.doverpublications.com/products/9780486404530 3) Calculus: The Princess of Mathematics by H.C.Verma et al. A two-vol…
on “Simplifying and Refactoring Introductory Calculus” ↗Calculus - an intuitive and physical approach. I did some of these exercises and they were easy. They helped me in calculus. I liked the explanation of secant lines. How to prove it - I like the reduction of proofs to mechanical symbol pushing.…
on “Ask HN: Do you recall any book or course that made a topic finally click?” ↗There's an author Morris Kline who wrote a number of fairly useful books on mathematics. Particularly worth mentioning are Mathematics for the Nonmathematician and Calculus: An Intuitive and Physical Approach. The former traces through the history of mathematics and places each of the math discoveries in their proper context. The latter covers most of the topics covered in the first couple calculus classes.…
on “Learning Math” ↗…https://www.amazon.com/Concepts-Modern-Mathematics-Dover-Boo... - Methods of Mathematics Applied to Calculus, Probability, and Statistics - https://www.amazon.com/Methods-Mathematics-Calculus-Probabil... (all books by Richard Hamming are recommended) - Calculus: An Intuitive and Physical Approach - https://www.amazon.com/Calculus-Intuitive-Physical-Approach-... For a Textbook reference, the following are quite good; - Mathematical Techniques: An Introduction for the Engineering, Physical, and…
on “Ask HN: Are there books for mathematics like Feynman's lectures on physics?” ↗