Updated and expanded to include the optional use of graphing calculators, this combination textbook and workbook is a good teach-yourself refresher course for men and women who took a calculus course in school, have since forgotten most of what they learned, and now need some practical calculus for business purposes or advanced education. The book is also very useful as a supplementary text for students who are taking calculus and finding it a struggle. Each progressive work unit offers clear instruction and worked-out examples. Special emphasis has been placed on business and economic applications. Topics covered include functions and their graphs, derivatives, optimization problems, exponential and logarithmic functions, integration, and partial derivatives.
Helped clear a lot of cob webs. Highly recommended for anyone who has used/learned calculus and finds, later in life, a new need or desire to refresh their skills. I think studying Calculus and mathematics in general is akin to exercise. As you exercise to keep your body in shape, I believe you should do mathematics (whether it is required professionally/academically or not) in order to keep your brain in shape. I was surprised at how many weaknesses this book exposed that I had been so confident in during my youth.
These books have a bad reputation among some readers. But they really are a great way to get up to speed quickly on the math you need to use. It's easy to write a long winded book, especially an academic text book, without saying anything at all. The "Forgotten" series are at least simple and direct.
Took calculus freshman year; taking econometrics in the second year of my master's studies. Looked at math again and nearly panicked. I'd forgotten everything. This book saved me and lived up to its name. Very fast refresher. I thought I was going to have to run through a hundred some-odd Khan Academy videos. This was much better.