Free Calculus Textbooks

One common definition I found of calculus is, “Calculus is the study of change, in the same way that geometry is the study of shape and algebra is the study of operations and their application to solving equations.”

In many ways, calculus is one of those courses that students planning on majoring in Computer Science, Mathematics, Economics, Engineering and many of the science fields will utilize during their career. It is something of a building block to advanced mathematics and science courses. With students at my college, it was the course that separated the CIS majors from the CS majors.

Sounds ominous but I don’t mean to. I liked Calculus. Calculus IV was one of my few electives. I can tell you from experience that the first semester course is the most difficult for most students. It drove me to thrift and used book stores in search of textbooks, study guides and anything else I could put my hands on. My small collection often helped me figure out concepts that I was having trouble with. It was like having 7 professors instead of one. I ended up relying upon those books throughout all four semesters of my study of calculus.

While I found help in the racks of discarded textbooks, today’s students have a virtual library-full of online calculus materials to turn to. From 1st semester students to those studying Advanced Calculus, Quantum Physics or some other high-level material, there’s something here that will hopefully be able to help.