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@darius@friend.camp

Post #4025411

2026-07-21 16:41 UTC

Honorable mention to "Prof. E. McSquared's Fantastic Original & Highly Edifying Calculus Primer" (different author) https://archive.org/details/profemcsquaredsf0000swan/page/2/mode/2up Did I learn any calculus from it? Not so much. Mayyybe some basic pre-calculus, but at age 12 I hit my limit at, well, limits. Did it mean that I spent ages 12-15 excited to finally get to take a calculus class and learn what the hell all this wacky stuff was? You better believe it!

Replies (4)

  • @nxskok@cupoftea.social 2026-07-23 03:13

    @darius@friend.camp there is also "Mathematician's Delight" by W W Sawyer, a good bit less whimsical than those, but leading the reader up to about differential calculus.

    Open ##4025410

  • @darius@friend.camp 2026-07-21 16:44

    The author of Math for Smarty Pants went on to have a long career as a math educator, and is still doing the thing! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Burns_(mathematics_educator) Here's a short podcast episode and text transcript from her website describing her story as an educator: https://marilynburnsmath.com/math-podcasts/conversation-2-marilyns-math-story/

    Open ##4047165

  • @zwol@masto.hackers.town 2026-07-21 16:44

    @darius@friend.camp I also read McSquared's Calculus Primer at about age 12. Sill the most lucid presentation of epsilon-delta proofs I have ever seen. (however, it spent *so much time* on continuity that it didn't really have enough space left over for differentials; when I got to Calculus A in high school we breezed past continuity in a couple weeks and spent months on what I'd thought was far less important)

    Open ##4047168

  • @ansate@social.coop 2026-07-23 02:17

    @darius@friend.camp totally bought a copy from thriftbooks! thanks for letting me know it exists

    Open ##4047171