What do you think?
Rate this book
Calculus in 5 Hours: Concepts Revealed so You Don't Have to Sit Through a Semester of Lectures
Students often struggle to understand Calculus and get through their first Calculus course. And to make things worse, many popular textbooks reach a whopping 1,000 pages to introduce this crucial subject, needlessly frustrating and overwhelming students. Calculus in 5 Hours develops the confidence you need in approximately 124 pages. You may not realize it, but you're smarter than you think you are. The problem is that assigned textbooks give exhaustive explanations of every proof and theorem in Calculus. But too many details can impair learning - especially when you're learning something for the first time - creating doubt and uncertainty in your ability to understand. What's needed is a straightforward guide to give you the basic concepts. Calculus in 5 Hours is a good companion to any Calculus course and an excellent resource for refreshing your knowledge of the subject. Here's what it can do for * Organize your understanding of Calculus for quick and easy recall on tests and homework assignments * Present straightforward drawings that demonstrate concepts with minimal effort on your part * Highlight simple examples without burdening you with useless details Calculus in 5 Hours covers roughly 75% of a first-semester course and leaves out the extra material that adds little value in learning Calculus itself. So, if you need a comprehensive textbook that goes through every detail of Calculus, then this book is not for you. Instead, you'll get a straightforward and simple explanation of Calculus that can be absorbed in less than a day, strengthening your knowledge and confidence at the same time. This allows you to focus on what's truly important - gaining knowledge and achievement as fast as possible. Get Calculus in 5 Hours to shorten your learning curve and gain the understanding you need to be successful today.
- GenresMathematics
160 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 30, 2017
398 people are currently reading
84 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 2, 2020
There was a big nay HUGE hole in my math knowledge even though I took Math AND Ad Math at 'A' Level (even though they were not a strict requirement in my biological studies focused path to medicine/surgery). Still the hole persisted. When, in my fourth year in med school I lived with and looked after (medically) several masai families and wrote a paper on their diets I needed to develop an interest in Data Science especially the mining of the vast amounts of medical data I had collected in my two years with them. Hence the need for calculus to figure out the machine learning/deep learning I'd need to carry out (fields that were almost non-existent at the time).
Various courses over the years (my favourite: Professor Leonard on YouTube) regularly landed me floundering in the weeds... Until this book came along. Sitting with paper and pen at a table with these 124 pages gave me 'hooks' onto which to hang all the other knowledge I had been struggling to come to grips with.
Various courses over the years (my favourite: Professor Leonard on YouTube) regularly landed me floundering in the weeds... Until this book came along. Sitting with paper and pen at a table with these 124 pages gave me 'hooks' onto which to hang all the other knowledge I had been struggling to come to grips with.
February 23, 2019
Excellent Review.
Excellent Review. The explanations are simple and straightforward. The language was easy to read. The examples and exercises were enough to get the reader to understand the topics. For calculus in 5 hours the author accomplished a lot. I recommend the book to everybody that wants to know what calculus is all about. For this, I give a 5 star.
Excellent Review. The explanations are simple and straightforward. The language was easy to read. The examples and exercises were enough to get the reader to understand the topics. For calculus in 5 hours the author accomplished a lot. I recommend the book to everybody that wants to know what calculus is all about. For this, I give a 5 star.
May 1, 2020
Calculus is an essential tool for learning anything that requires higher mathematics. Its importance cannot be overstated. So I decided to check out Calculus In 5 Hours by Dennis Jarecke. It seemed like it would be a good supplemental text at least, and I was correct in assuming that. The book doesn’t meet all of its promises. It states that you don’t have to sit through a semester of lectures, but it only covers a certain amount of Calculus 1.
That is the main issue with this book, it just isn’t advanced enough. It covers derivatives and integrals, explaining how they came about and how they are useful. According to the book, there are more resources online that you can access, but I didn’t check those out. All of the essential equations are highlighted in these boxes that set it apart from the rest of the text. The book offers mnemonics and other helpful things as well.
So if you are learning Calculus for the first time or if you need a slight refresher on some aspects of Calculus 1 then this book could be for you. It didn’t take me 5 hours to read, but it could be because I am already somewhat familiar with Calculus 1.
That is the main issue with this book, it just isn’t advanced enough. It covers derivatives and integrals, explaining how they came about and how they are useful. According to the book, there are more resources online that you can access, but I didn’t check those out. All of the essential equations are highlighted in these boxes that set it apart from the rest of the text. The book offers mnemonics and other helpful things as well.
So if you are learning Calculus for the first time or if you need a slight refresher on some aspects of Calculus 1 then this book could be for you. It didn’t take me 5 hours to read, but it could be because I am already somewhat familiar with Calculus 1.
October 8, 2023
A masterpiece for people whom need to learn the essentials of calculus in a short amount of time.
The explanations are very easy to understand, which a lot of teachers and books can’t seem to do.
Mathematics is in essence an understandable language, but made hard to understand with the wrong explanation.
This book is a contraindicated to most books, explaining a variety of topics in a soft and understandable language.
The topics of the boom:
1. Functions
2. Derivatives
3. Geometry of a function
4. Integrals
The explanations are very easy to understand, which a lot of teachers and books can’t seem to do.
Mathematics is in essence an understandable language, but made hard to understand with the wrong explanation.
This book is a contraindicated to most books, explaining a variety of topics in a soft and understandable language.
The topics of the boom:
1. Functions
2. Derivatives
3. Geometry of a function
4. Integrals
August 7, 2021
The author delivers what he promised.
This book is a good review of the very basics of Calculus. He references the answers to problems to his website, which has more material.
I recommend it as a general review of the basics and as an introduction to the first year student.
This book is a good review of the very basics of Calculus. He references the answers to problems to his website, which has more material.
I recommend it as a general review of the basics and as an introduction to the first year student.
February 5, 2022
Lecciones rápidas para comenzar con cálculo.
April 21, 2024
Amazing! I learned so much so quickly and easily. Thank you.
March 4, 2019
...Speak to a graph’s domain without ever using or covering end-line behavior? Extrema with no discussion of local versus global? Certainly, anyone from the point of view of “a Semester of Lectures” will be able to spot one or more things “missing” in a rapid introduction doable by lunch....
I would not recommend this as replacement for a semester, but I would recommend it for, say, someone needing to take calculus many years after their last experience. Or, someone interested but not ready to commit to a course. There could be value to follow through while one does “Sit Through a Semester of Lectures”. Exercise solutions appear on a companion site.
[Look for my entire review at MAA Reviews]
I would not recommend this as replacement for a semester, but I would recommend it for, say, someone needing to take calculus many years after their last experience. Or, someone interested but not ready to commit to a course. There could be value to follow through while one does “Sit Through a Semester of Lectures”. Exercise solutions appear on a companion site.
[Look for my entire review at MAA Reviews]
August 25, 2020
Most Accessible Text I’ve Seen On Calculus
It may not get you through your college class, but it certainly covers the key topics well. A great refresher on the topic.
It may not get you through your college class, but it certainly covers the key topics well. A great refresher on the topic.
June 22, 2020
Jarecke's "Calculus in 5 Hours" is one of those books that can be regarded as both poor or brilliant depending on the reader. If you are the right reader for this book -a highschool or college student about to take your first Calculus course or *really* struggling with it during the semester- you will find it incredibly useful. With simple explanations that cut right to the chase in a pragmatic way and avoiding complex demonstrations or unnecessary lingo, the book will help you get the foundations of the topic in the advertised time or less, and set the basis for further learning. Likewise, if you have already taken such a course a while ago and need a *very* quick recap, this will also do a half decent job.
However, if you think this will replace a good 6 months course on Calculus (like the book's titles suggests) you are set up for a disappointment. Firstly, the book only covers one variable calculus (although this is not rare in introductory manuals and not necessarily a problem). Secondly, it is completely oblivious of key concepts within calculus, like series or even limits (although Jarecke mentions limits and clarifies they will be left out because they are not strictly necessary to solve derivative exercises) and their relation with differentiation and integration. Thirdly, while the author evidently has the good intention of helping some students overcome the idea that they can't learn calculus, his way of teaching it -focusing on shallow comprehension of the topics and quick resolution of exercises via rules rather than definitions- might have the opposite effect for someone genuinely interested on the field.
In summary, if you are planning to read this as a complement to something else -whether it is a course or another book- it can be just what you need to ease your way through the first stages of learning calculus. On the contrary, if you are looking for a book that can really teach you calculus by its own, you should keep looking.
However, if you think this will replace a good 6 months course on Calculus (like the book's titles suggests) you are set up for a disappointment. Firstly, the book only covers one variable calculus (although this is not rare in introductory manuals and not necessarily a problem). Secondly, it is completely oblivious of key concepts within calculus, like series or even limits (although Jarecke mentions limits and clarifies they will be left out because they are not strictly necessary to solve derivative exercises) and their relation with differentiation and integration. Thirdly, while the author evidently has the good intention of helping some students overcome the idea that they can't learn calculus, his way of teaching it -focusing on shallow comprehension of the topics and quick resolution of exercises via rules rather than definitions- might have the opposite effect for someone genuinely interested on the field.
In summary, if you are planning to read this as a complement to something else -whether it is a course or another book- it can be just what you need to ease your way through the first stages of learning calculus. On the contrary, if you are looking for a book that can really teach you calculus by its own, you should keep looking.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews