Calculus: A Liberal Art (Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics) Book

This is a serious--but not solemn--textbook that attempts to make a clear, conceptual understanding of calculus accessible to all liberal arts students. It presents mathematics as growing out of the classical liberal arts to form a natural bridge between the humanities and the sciences, integrating the history and pedagogy of mathematics in a way that may be of interest to prospective teachers as well. Instead of a pre-calculus review, this book offers an historical development of much of the geometry and algebra needed, emphasizing the fundamental need for students to develop a clear style of writing. Calculus is here largely restricted to the study of algebraic functions, but all the usual aspects of the interplay between functions and derivatives are covered: optimization, instantaneous rates, Newton's method, freely falling bodies, antiderivatives, integrals, areas, volumes, etc. The fundamental theorem is prominently featured and carefully treated. A brief final chapter about the intellectual climate surrounding the development of calculus offers students further insight into the place of mathematics as an element in the history of thought. With only a modest amount of high school mathematics required as background and algebraic manipulations kept at a simple level (except for optional material giving stronger students brief glimpses of deeper ideas of real analysis) this text is suitable for a one-semester course designed to fulfill general education requirements.Read More