Thomas' Calculus

by George B. Thomas Jr., Joel R. Hass, Christopher Heil

Thomas' Calculus 14/Ed by Hass, 9789353060411

Genres: Mathematics, Textbooks, Science, Reference, Physics, Calculus, Nonfiction

1208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1952

About the author

George Brinton Thomas, a mathematician who turned a one-year teaching appointment at MIT into a 38-year career and whose well-regarded textbook has been used around the world, died Oct. 31 of natural causes in State College, Pa. He was 92.

Thomas, known as a young teacher for his ability to communicate mathematical concepts, was hired in 1951 by publisher Addison-Wesley to revise their then-standard, widely used calculus textbook. Rather than revise, he wrote his own, a classic text that has been in use for 54 years.

At MIT, Thomas came to be regarded as an outstanding teacher, "one of the best teachers the department has ever had," according to then Department Head Ted Martin. Not only did he teach a wide variety of subjects, but he also willingly took on new courses. Administratively, he served as executive officer of the department for ten years and as graduate registration officer from 1962-67.

Thomas was born Jan. 11, 1914, in Boise, Idaho. His mother died in the influenza pandemic in 1919, and young George grew up in sometimes difficult circumstances. At one point he lived in a tent with his father and stepmother. "It must have been sort of hard times, because I can remember going out with her to pick weeds of some kind along the roadside that were edible," he recalled afterward, according to his daughter, Fay Bakhru.

His father's work in a bank helped lead Thomas to discover his own fascination with numbers. After studies at Spokane University and Washington State College, which led to bachelor's and master's degrees, Thomas hoped to become a high school math teacher, but "that somehow didn't work out," as he related afterward.

During World War II, Thomas helped program the differential analyzer for the calculation of firing tables for the Navy.

After the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in October 1957, Thomas was part of a national effort to improve math and science education in American schools. He also traveled to India on a Ford Foundation grant to teach Indian instructors how he and his American colleagues taught math.

Thomas worked in a shoe store for a time to save money for doctoral studies, and eventually went to Cornell, where he completed his Ph.D. in mathematics in 1940, and then came to MIT, from which he retired in 1978.

Thomas' commitment to education went well beyond MIT. From 1955-57, he served on the Board of Governors of the Mathematical Association of America, an organization devoted to mathematics, especially at the undergraduate level. He was elected its first Vice-President 1958-59. Thomas also served on the Executive Committee, Mathematics Division, of the American Society for Engineering Education from 1956-59. He was a member of the Commission on Mathematics of the College Entrance Examination Board, 1955-58, for which he co-authored monographs on mathematics, and spoke at numerous forums about teaching and high school curriculum reform. In addition to his calculus text, which had a significant impact, he was also one of the editors on a series of high school mathematics texts for Addison-Wesley Publishing.

Twice widowed, Thomas is survived by two daughters, Fay, of Glen Mills, Pa., and Jean H. Thomas of West Chester, Pa.; a son, James H. Thomas of Owls Head, Maine; a stepson, Brad Waldron of Beverly, Mass., two stepdaughters, Melissa Goggin of Beverly, Mass., and Susan Hamill of Maine; three sisters, Mary Nelson of Twin Falls, Idaho, Carol Hypes of Greeley, Colo., and Peggy Turner of Lubbock, Texas; three grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and six step-grandchildren.

A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on November 15, 2006 (download PDF).

Reviews

[Moeen Sahraei · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptionally great. This book is a treasure that gives you the marvelous ideas about one of the most common and yet important things in the world, the concept of the “Change”. Calculus is study of every aspect of the change. Newton started it and after him so many prominent mathematicians had given their contribution to evolve this beautiful field. Thomas is well versed in every part of the calculus and starts the book with some prerequisites like algebra, trigonometry, geometry and some other parts of college mathematics. Then he continues with Limits which is the corner stone of the rest of the book. After limits he explains thoroughly the concept of derivatives and their applications. And after that you will see integrals which is the most important prerequisite for probability and statistics. After integrals the second part of the book begins with differential equations and infinite series (some people find it a little challenging) and after that is Multi-variable calculus. Multi-variable differentiation is by far the most difficult part of the book especially the chapters about gradients and Lagrange multipliers, but multi-variable integrals is relatively easy to learn. In summary, it was a really enjoyable book to read. If you want to study probability, physics, programming or any other field of study that is pertinent to the concept of the change, you have no choice except learning calculus.

[Lily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I AM FINISHED!!! *does a happy little victory dance!*

[Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

I studied from an earlier version of this book in college in 1980. Loved it then. My prof was Ross Finney (now deceased, like Thomas), at the time a co-author. A great book and a great teacher.

[Piotrekjablonski · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best maths book i've ever seen. Perhaps, for some readers it may be too long, but every subject is explained in a very .. hmm... explicit way, which makes it an excellent self-study textbook.

[Haneen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I spent one year and a half studying from this book and here is the story:

Calculus 1:
Fall 2010-2011
SuTuTh 10-10:50 am


Calculus 2:
Spring 2010-2011
SuTuTh 11-11:50 am


Calculus 3:
Fall 2011-2012
SuTuTh 9-9:50 am


The book is great..I enjoyed studying from it "for a while"...chapter 10 and 15 are horrible..but I finished calculus Finally..

[Nazir · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is naturally too vast to go through entirely, but it was my favorite calculus book in undergraduate. Everything from single and multivariable calculus is covered here. Some things on differential equations were left to be desired, but there are entire books on differential equations. This is a nice textbook for someone that just got into university and needs to take some calculus courses.

[Tarnparit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hopefully the last I’ll see of calculus.
————————————————————————Just a replacement for my actual textbook.
They say if you pass Cal II, you can do anything. And here I am, after passing Cal II, suffering in Cal III.

[Ieugrgtggt Rjrűu5h5h · Rating 5 out of 5]

left me in tears

[Daniyal Nasir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book for calculus and quite easy to to understand

[Saurabh Jha · Rating 4 out of 5]

The twelfth edition of this book got me interested in mathematics 9 years ago. I finally got a chance to go through the thirteenth edition almost cover to cover; here's my review.

This is a very thorough introduction to single and multivariable calculus. Apart from things that are typically covered in college courses, it also includes things like epsilon-delta definition of limit, definition of definite integrals as the limit of Reimann sums, and a proof of the fundamental theorem. The single variable part in particular does a really good job in developing your intuition while giving you a great grounding in more formal aspects. It is a really great gateway to the more abstract parts of mathematics should you fancy studying that.

The major downside of this book is the exercises are very repetitive and a lot of them just involve manual computing rather then coming up with new insights. The way I used to ground my understanding was by attempting proofs of theorems by myself and checking with proofs from the book after I attempted them. I also used to work out in-text examples before looking at the solution. I think these helped me more in understanding the subject then mindlessly ploughing through repetitive problems would have.

Another major problem is a few of the proofs are just obscure. The worst example I have in mind is the proof of mixed derivative theorem in appendix; that proof was the ugliest I have ever seen in my life! Sadly, though the book obscures this fact, mixed derivative theorem seems crucial to how the variables are swapped in multiple integrals.

Despite some reservations though, I really enjoyed going through this book.

[Abdullah Jamal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Impressive...Make me cry

[Goodfella · Rating 3 out of 5]

You can learn calculus from this book, but you won't get any practical tips from it (except chapter 8). I think every edition makes this book worse, it's too big already.

[Rudaw Sorkan · Rating 5 out of 5]

function

[Ryan Pennell · Rating 4 out of 5]

In mathematical texts, Thomas stands out prominently, offering a depth of knowledge that captivates the reader. I find myself leaning towards Thomas over Stewart, appreciating the comprehensive understanding it provides. While the decision may lie with the publisher rather than the author, it's notable that the Thomas text goes beyond mere formulas, presenting rigorous proofs that elevate it as a work of art. The inclusion of advanced problems adds another layer, inviting students to delve into computer programming or try their hand at programming on a Ti-83 calculator, should they be inclined. It's more than a choice of textbooks; it's an exploration of mathematical possibilities.

[Sezin Mutlu · Rating 4 out of 5]

son üniteyi bir az daha fazla çalışmalıyım. vector fields bombasını sona koymamak lazım gelirdi. ama harika ötesi başarılı bir kitap neredeyse duygulanıcam!!! bir buçuk yıl canıma okudu ama nihayet elveda ediyorum. umarım

[Igor Fomenko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very clear,very continiously with a lot of interesting examples and exercises.It`s not necessary to use other book to read this one.

[Adr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an efficiently understandable explanation of just the right amount of knowledge required to further my interests in so many fields

[Muyu]

@2016-08-29 00:10:05

[Grant Durbahn · Rating 2 out of 5]

brutal

[Alkano · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can't believe I finished it last semester 😱
Also our profs call it as comics book made for calculus 💀

[mafi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Esta bien. Lo use más que nada para repasar para cálculo II. Me sorprendió que según este lo usan en el MIT :)

[ArtilleryDave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Personally not a fan of this book because I don't understand a lot of the theory and very less into problem solving, probably good for me when I'm in college and into Mathematics Major.

[Jonathan Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

While reading this over the Fall term while enrolled in a university level Calculus III course, this book challenged my perception about mathematics by proposing and giving mathematical proof that there are three dimensions with rectangular coordinates, but there are also other coordinate systems besides rectangular (Cartesian) and polar such as spherical and cylindrical. This book gives a significant amount of information, and access to a related MyMathLab course and a skilled professor add a more complete set of sources of Calculus education.

[Zarish Fatima · Rating 4 out of 5]

1 year reading this book. it was my first maths book coming in uni. I liked it some of it was foreign to me and always will be because we do not do graphic and computer mathematical problems. But it would have been cool if we did. It is nice book and designed for students early in their professional studies and does not have any complicated symbolization like in other calculus books i went through.

[Nadia · Rating 4 out of 5]

bcos im going to have an exam 4 this paper on 2nd Nov then i've 2 use this book as a reference...i need it now..n going to really need it soon..huhuu..it do help a lot but sumtime quite confusing..but of cos the content of this book that i can say 4 now..it's MARVELLOUS..hehe..only 1 thing that a bit 'lece'..this book is very the berat lah..tebal sgt...nk buka pn susah..huhuuhuu

[Haytham Badawey]

Used this book for practice and solving problems while learning Mathematica software. It's very dense and extensive book, covers too many details about calculus techniques, theorems, problems, applications, etc.

It's a famous book, and the solution manual is what makes this book unique and interesting.

[Jordan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This calculus book is a good introductory book for the Calculus 1 class at SLCC, but once the student has passed into Calculus 2 and above the book is lacking in a great deal of explination and has little more value than a paper weight or kindling.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

I preferred this book to Stewart's for Calc 1-2, but once it got to chapter 11 Infinite Sequences and Series It started to go down hill. That's when I went back to Stewart's book. I give it four stars for chapters 1-10 which are better than average.

[Suhu · Rating 1 out of 5]

Buku ini telah membuatku merasa aku bukan lagi diriku. Di saat kamu ingin merasa bego, dianjurkan membaca buku ini.

[Anum · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good guide with excellent excercises for a calculus student.